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Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Hakan Fidan met to discuss common security issues on Monday.

Following a closed-door meeting at the Presidential Palace in Belgrade, a written statement from Serbia's presidency said bilateral security issues were among the topics discussed at the meeting:

"President Vucic emphasized that the migrant crisis, with growing terrorist threats, is the security challenge that both the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Turkey are facing."

The two men also agreed that for Serbia and Turkey, Monday's meeting represented an important step in strengthening bilateral cooperation, with the goal of preserving peace and stability in the region as well as throughout Europe.

Vucic also asked Fidan to call on Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, to visit Serbia.

Serbia, a non-EU member, still faces significant challenges from the migrant crisis.

Migrants in Belgrade have been sleeping in abandoned premises near the city's railway station and at other makeshift shelters ever since Hungary and Croatia closed their borders to those traveling the so-called 'Balkan route'.

There are still around 8,000 migrants still in Serbia; the security forces have also returned about 20,000 people who had tried to cross the country's borders illegally.

Police say they have arrested around 2,000 human traffickers since the migrant crisis began.

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Serbian President Vucic, Turkish intelligence chief Fidan discuss security, migrant crisis - Daily Sabah

By Claude Berube and Chris Rawley

This summer while many European vacationers bask on sunny Mediterranean beaches, out in the water, hundreds of people are fighting for their lives while an increasingly more complex and robust collection of maritime non-government organizations (NGOs) (see Table 1) alternatively try to rescue them from drowning or send them back to Africa. The line between maritime human trafficking and a flow of refugees at sea has been blurred. In response to the ongoing migrant wave, the group Defend Europe recently raised enough money to charter a 422-ton ship, the C-Star, to convey a team of its activists to Libya. They arrived in the search-and-rescue zone off the Libyan coast on August 4-5.

The authors understand the complexities of this situation in the central Mediterranean particularly with regard to strongly held political positions by both sides. We try not to take sides in political battles, especially as we sit on the board of directors of the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC). Our interest is simply to discuss how organizations use the sea as a venue to proactively accomplish their own goals and deter their opponents goals. Our piece at War on the Rocks discusses the search-and-rescue NGOs and the approaching counter-NGO ship C-Star. As it has arrived on station off Libyan territorial waters, we spoke with Thorsten Schmidt, spokesman for Defend Europe.

What is the C-Stars mission? We came to the conclusion, Schmidt says, to get activists who are independent and fair. We need to get our own ship to get people there and to observe the left-wing NGOs. Schmidt contends that the media has been embedded with the NGOs and therefore have a bias in support of their work. When asked if C-Star had an embedded reporter or asked for a reporter from any media organization, he stated that they just wanted their own activists to report with cameras.

C-Star from the perspective of the vessel Aquarius on August 5 around 20 nm off the Libyan coast. (via Paco Anselmi/Twitter)

The search-and-rescue (SAR) NGOs have operated between Libya and Sicily for two years. When Defend Europe began to consider their own maritime mission, they were approached by the owner of a ship to charter. The ship was the C-Star (formerly the Suunta a Djibouti-flagged floating armory in the Red Sea). The owner is Sven Tomas Egerstrom, formerly associated with the Cardiff-based Sea Marshals which he was terminated from on 26 March 2014. Although there have been some questions as to whether C-Star has armed guards aboard, it is unlikely. Schmidt told us that the ship had no weapons aboard. More practically, we assessed in our previous piece that Defend Europe does not have the funds to support a ship for an extended mission beyond two weeks as well as the more costly endeavor of an armed guard team. Ships transiting the Gulf of Aden will only pay armed guards for a few days. That is a function of both need and cost in higher-risk areas.

The ship was detained both as it transited the Suez Canal and when it pulled in to Famagusta, Cyprus. It is unknown what exactly happened. Several reports suggested the ship had false documents or was transporting foreign nationals to Europe. Schmidt states that in both cases the authorities found nothing on the ships.

Once on station, C-Star will spend a week in the company of search-and-rescue NGOs and on the lookout for both migrant boats and human traffickers. Their cameras will be their weapons. According to Schmidt, nine out of ten migrants using the sea do not migrate from war-torn countries as refugees. When they reach the Libyan coast, he says, human traffickers put them on gray rafts and enough food and fuel to get to the 12 nautical mile territorial limit of Libya where search-and-rescue NGOs then pick up the migrants and take them to Europe. The traffickers use smaller, high-speed boats to follow the rafts then, when the NGOs have rescued the migrants, the traffickers take the motors and return them to Libya. Schmidt notes that in some cases, the traffickers join the migrants so that they can establish networks in Sicily and beyond. Italian authorities in Lampedusa this week seized the Iuventa, owned by the SAR NGO Jugend Rettet, accusing them of aiding and abetting traffickers.

If C-Star encounters a migrant boat in distress, Schmidt says it will render assistance first by notifying the MRCC in Rome, and then bring them aboard. According to Schmidt, the ship has hundreds of life vests. When asked about how it might accommodate for potentially dozens of refugees from a boat in distress, he says the ship is fully equipped with an extra amount of water and food. Of course there are several activists on board with medical aid skills. Instead of taking the migrants to Sicily or other European ports, they intend to take the migrants to closer, non-European ports such as in Tunisia. It is unknown if they have secured the diplomatic agreements to make those transfers happen. Defend Europe argues that this makes sense since there are closer countries than Italy that arent unstable like Libya.

Defend Europe wants an end to human trafficking but, as Schmidt says, we are just one ship and you cant stop it with just one shipWe are an avant garde but need help. Though they have an abbreviated mission this time, the $185,000 they have raised ensures that they will look to a second and third mission. Already, he says, two more ship owners have contacted them.

Table 1: NGO Rescue & Interdiction Vessels Operating in the Mediterranean

Claude Berube teaches at the United States Naval Academy and is an officer in the Navy Reserve. He has published three non-fiction books and two novels. Follow him on Twitter @cgberube. Chris Rawley is a Navy Reserve surface warfare officer and entrepreneur. Follow him on Twitter @navaldrones. Rawley and Berube frequently write and speak on maritime organizations and both serve on the Board of Directors of CIMSEC. The views expressed are theirs alone and not of any organization with which they are affiliated.

Featured Image:A banner reading Stop Human Trafficking attached to the side of the C-Star. (Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP)

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The Med Migrant Crisis and Defend Europe - CIMSEC

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Matteo Renzi said he would use the iron fist to force countries in Eastern Europe to respect the rules as his country takes the brunt of the escalating migrant crisis.

He said: Those who cannot stay in Italy must be accepted in Europe, otherwise we will stop transferring money to countries that do not accept quotas.

The socialist chiefs furious rant comes as Eastern European nations, including Poland and Hungary, continue to refuse to take migrants from Italy under the European Unions migrant quota scheme.

Fed up of paying for members who lack solidarity, Mr Renzi vowed to punish them by cutting their cash.

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Those who cannot stay in Italy must be accepted in Europe, otherwise we will stop transferring money to countries that do not accept quotas

Matteo Renzi

They currently receive billions of pounds a year from Western nations in what are known as Cohesion Funds - a form of foreign aid designed to bring their economies up to scratch to adopt the euro.

Speaking to to local radio show Radio Anchio, Mr Renzi, who is hoping make a return as PM in the next election, said the migrant crisis "will last twenty years.

He added: But there are three essential things to do: first, to really help them in their countries of origin, which means, as we did, to increase investment in international cooperation; second, ius soli; and third, the limited number on the basis of integration capacity.

In mid-June, the European Commission brought a lawsuit against Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary for refusing to accept refugees and violating EU legislation.

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In stark comparison, Italy is grappling with an influx, with UN figures revealing more than 94,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean into the nation so far this year.

And more than 2,300 have died while trying to attempt the perilous crossing.

At its shortest distance, the EU country is a mere 290 miles from the coast of Libya, a largely lawless country which has seen the number of people smugglers rocket.

Given the short distance to the EU from the North African coast, Italy, is dealing with a higher number of migrants on their shores when compared to other countries on the continent, particularly northern Europe.

Rome has pleaded with Brussels and its neighbours for help in dealing with the influx, with many politicians voicing their frustration over what they see as being abandoned to deal with the issue themselves.

(Additional reporting by Maria Ortega)

Excerpt from:
Italy's ultimatum to EU - Eastern Europe must take migrants or we'll block their cash - Express.co.uk

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European Union leaders were left reeling when the French president unveiled designs to have France solve the mass migration issue between Libya and Italy.

Without consultation with Italy the main destination for African migrants - Mr Macron announced he would open refugee camps in migrant hotspots in Africa to try and allocate genuine refugees before they make the deadly journey across the Mediterranean.

He wanted to set up clean and safe camps abroad to end the burden on the EU as thousands arrive every week.

However, undermining Italy infuriated Rome after leaders spent months trying to arrange help and migrant sharing with other EU nations.

Now, the pioneering promise has been slapped down in Paris.

French Interior Minister Grard Collomb said such plans are extremely far off.

He said: That type of initiative cannot be currently considered in Libya, due to the countrys situation.

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The minister said France will step up in the fight against migration through illegal channels.

Mr Collomb said instead the government would try to reconcile efficiency with generosity in dealing with asylum requests.

He wants to deal with immigration in a controlled way - taking more in, but slowly.

In 2018 a further 3,500 accommodation places will open for migrants and 4,000 in 2019.

However, Mr Collomb said the process should be managed and not as manic as it has been - despite the number of African migrants living on the streets of Paris.

Immigration laws are under review in France as Mr Collomb said those fleeing war and persecution are welcome in France, but it was time to shut down economic migration.

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Refugees and migrants wait in a small rubber boat to be rescued off Lampedusa, Italy

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Under new plans France will process asylum requests in six months and will actively fight illegal immigration.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said it was time to look at what is going on at home.

He said: Our current standards are not as high as what they should be in France.

Mr Collomb said there is a renewed pledge to cooperate with foreign governments to crack down on traffickers, although left out finer details.

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Emmanuel Macron's plan to tackle migrant crisis crushed by his OWN government - Express.co.uk

London:Tensions are rising in the southern Mediterranean's migrant crisis, after Italian coastguards seized a German aid group's boat suspected of aiding illegal immigration.

But refugee advocates have in return accused Italy of being complicit in human rights abuses, by sending navy vesselsinto Libyan waters to turn back migrant boats.

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Jugend Rettet, an aid group working in the Mediterranean say their equipment may have been hacked after being accused of allegedly helping people traffickers.

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Italian police arrested a 30-year-old man suspected of abducting a British model in Milan and threatening to auction her online unless a ransom of $300,000 was paid.

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China has said new UN sanctions on North Korea were the right response to a series of missile tests, but dialogue was vital to resolve a sensitive issue.

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US Vice President Mike Pence denounced as false New York Times article suggesting he is eyeing a run for president.

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The Dow has risen to its eighth straight record closing high.

Jugend Rettet, an aid group working in the Mediterranean say their equipment may have been hacked after being accused of allegedly helping people traffickers.

Refugee advocates deny accusations that non-government organisations have formed a "taxi service" for migrants fleeing Libya, saying instead they are providing a vital search-and-rescue service that is saving thousands of lives.

Italian coastguards confiscated the boat, named Iuventa and operated by activistcollective Jugend Rettet, on the island of Lampedusa after receiving evidence that its crew were in communication with people smugglers.

"The evidence is serious," Ambrogio Cartosio, chief prosecutor in the western Sicilian city of Trapani, said.

"We have evidence of encounters between traffickers, who escorted illegal immigrants to the Iuventa, and members of the boat's crew."

He said nobody had been charged but his investigation was continuing. He also said it would be a "fantasy" to say there was a coordinated plan between the NGOs and the Libyan traffickers.

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Jugend Rettet did not respond to a request for an interview from Fairfax Media.

On Twitter on Thursday they said their crew were interviewed by officials "as part of the standard procedure" and they had received no information about an investigation.

"Our legal teams are working hard to examine the legal basis of the confiscation of the ship," they said.

They watched their ship's forced departure from Lampedusa "with heavy hearts" because the ship was "dearly needed", they said.

Last month, Italy, with the backing of the European Union, imposed a code of conduct for NGOs in the Mediterranean.

Jugend Rettet said they had been negotiating with Rome over the code, but on Tuesday had decided not to sign it until it was rewritten.

"Our top priority is to save people in distress but this is not prioritised [in] this code of conduct [which] would legally put us in an uncertain position," they said in a statement on Facebook.

In May,Cartosio told a parliamentary committee in Rome that he had become suspicious of NGOs after noticing some rescue crews seemed to know in advance where to find migrant boats, and were making rescues without informing the Italian coastguard.

Carmelo Zuccaro the chief prosecutor of the Sicilian port of Catania, has claimed he had evidence of phone calls between people smugglers and aid groups, but in May admitted he was expressing only a "hypothesis" and had no proof that could be used in court.

A fleet of around a dozen boats crewed by humanitarian groups are working on the Mediterranean to perform rescues.

Around 85,000 migrants arrived in Italy by boat in the first six months of 2017, 21 per cent more than in the same period in 2016.

More than 2200 people have died attempting the crossing this year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Last year, rescues in the Mediterranean were closer to Italy, but now they were happening much closer to the border between Libyan and international waters, prompting accusations the NGOs are encouraging people smugglers.

Smugglers were "including the presence of NGO boats in their business model", aEuropean official familiar with the situation told Fairfax Media last month.

Izza Leghtas, a senior advocate for Refugees International, said search and rescue should not be made into a political issue.

NGOs performed more than a third of the rescues in the area in the first part of 2017, Leghtas said.

"They are filling a huge gap if they weren't doing that work then we would be talking probably about thousands more people drowning."

"They are proactive, they go to the areas where they know people are at risk in international waters," she said, while official boats were more focused on border control. "We are talking about life and death situations and that needs to be the priority."

Part of the problem was the pressure Italy was coming under because other European countries, including Italy's closest neighbours, had not stepped up to take a share of the migrants and refugees arriving from Africa.

The Italians had been traumatised by the number of deaths at sea and felt they had been left alone to handle it, Leghtas said.

She rejected the claim that NGOs were encouraging migrants to take to the sea.

"The conditions in Libya are so horrific, it's a question of a push factor not a pull factor," she said. "People get out of Libya because it's unbearable, because people are killed and tortured and sexually abused.

"To focus on the rescue operations and ignore the fact they are fleeing for their lives [is wrong] people are going to go regardless [of the NGO boats]."

She said her group was deeply concerned by the Italian government's plan to send its vessels into Libyan territorial waters to help the Libyan coastguard intercept migrant and refugee boats.

"It is no secret that migrants and refugees who are intercepted and returned by the Libyan coast guard face horrific abuses in Libya's migrant detention centers," said Leghtas. "By engaging in these operations, the Italian government would be knowingly complicit in these abuses."

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Migrant crisis: German NGO boat that 'contacted people ...