On the evening of Friday 11 September, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, welcomed the boarding and inspection of the merchant vessel Royal Diamond 7 by Operation EUNAVFORMEd Irini the previous day, to detect an alleged violation of the UN arms embargo on Libya.
“This successful action shows the value of Operation Irini in implementing the arms embargo in Libya, in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions”, he stressed on Twitter, saying that it was a concrete demonstration of the EU's commitment to supporting the Berlin process, to restoring stability in Libya and bringing peace.
According to the spokesman for the European External Action Service, this is the first inspection of a ship by the operation.
According to an operation communiqué, on 10 September at 7 a.m., the boarding team of the German frigate FGS Hamburg boarded the vessel in international waters, 150 km north of the city of Derna, Libya.
The vessel had left the port of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) and was heading towards Benghazi. It was carrying a cargo of jet fuel that could be used for military purposes. This fuel is considered ‘military material’ by the United Nations and therefore Security Council Resolutions 2292 (2016) and 2526 (2020) apply.
The Royal Diamond 7 was diverted to an EU port “for further investigation”.
Irini was operating on the basis of information provided by the UN Panel of Experts on Libya, which highlighted the suspicious nature of the shipment. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)