By Sami Zaptia.
London, 24 November 2020:
The European Union’s Operation IRINI confirmed yesterday that it had boarded and inspected the Merchant Vessel (MV) ROSELINE A, a Turkish-flagged general Cargo vessel, on Sunday 22 November, in application of the United Nation Security Council’s Resolutions 2292 (2016) and 2526 (2020) concerning the arms embargo on Libya.
IRINI said the vessel departed from Yarimca, Turkey on 20 November and directed to Misrata, Libya.
IRINI said that in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions, it made good faith efforts to seek the consent of Turkey to board the vessel. However, having received no answer from Turkey, the team of the German Frigate Hamburg boarded the vessel in international waters, approximately 160 nautical miles north of the port of Benghazi. It reported that the Master of the ship and its crew assumed a cooperative attitude towards the boarding team.
However, IRINI explained that when Turkey made it clear that it denied permission for its vessel to be inspected, Operation IRINI suspended the activities during which no evidence of illicit material was found on board and the vessel was cleared to pursue its route.
IRINI reported that this was its fifth boarding activity since the start of the operation.
