France Deploys two Frigates as it Joins Operation IRINI to enforce Libya arms embargo

Since Monday May 4. 2020, the anti-aircraft frigate Jean Bart has been engaged in the European Union’s EUNAVFOR MED IRINI operation. Launched on April 1. 2020, the main objective of this preventive mission is to contribute to the implementation of the 2016 United Nations resolution on the arms embargo on Libya (UNSCR 2292).

The French vessel will patrol in the Central Mediterranean and contribute to preventing the risks of instability in the region thanks to its reconnaissance and detection capabilities. It will do so in cooperation with the other means deployed by other European nations taking part in the operation.

This direct support comes a few days after the deployment of the La Fayette-class frigate Aconit within the EUNAVFOR MED IRINI operation, which is now continuing its route in the Mediterranean Sea.

Sensitive to the risks that human, oil and arms trafficking generated by the Libyan crisis pose to regional stability, France has committed itself and its European partners to the European Union’s operation to combat the trafficking of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, known as EUNAVFOR MED SOPHIA, as early as 2015. In 2020, in the context of the end of the EUNAVFOR MED SOPHIA operation, France is therefore continuing its commitment alongside its European Union partners in the framework of the EUNAVFOR MED IRINI operation.

The European Union is stepping up its efforts to enforce the UN arms embargo on Libya, thereby contributing to the peace process in the country, through the launch of a new CSDP (Common Security and Defence Policy) military operation in the Mediterranean. The European Council launched Operation EUNAVFOR MED IRINI on 1 April 2020.