Only after hundreds of refugees perished in the Mediterranean Sea did European heads of state decide to convene and seek solutions to the ongoing tragedy. Alas, the ideas on the table will not even begin to stem the flood of refugees as none address the root of the problem: civil strife and poverty in Africa.
Most refugees trying to flee to safety in Europe hail from wartorn Syria, or are Africans shuttling through the chaos in Libya for a way off the continent. Although many Syrians try to cross into Europe through Turkey, increasing numbers travel to the Libyan coast via Egypt in order to find smugglers who will put them in dodgy dinghies - or worse. And they pay a lot of money to do it.
After hundreds of refugees drowned this week when their boats sank, and video footage captured the tragedies, European politicians reacted. The European Commission proposed a 10-point plan that boils down to improving search-and-rescue operations and basically doing more of the same.
One theory has been thoroughly disproven: Cutting down on sea rescue operations, which is what happened when the EU nations pulled the plug on Italy's Mare Nostrum operation, does not motivate refugees to stay on African shores. Some governments earlier argued that the very fact that European ships perform active search-and-rescue missions encourages refugees to try and cross the Mediterranean.
Undoubtedly the European Union should beef up its operations to rescue people in distress and find ways to evenly distribute them across the EU member states. But Europe should also actively pursue the stabilization of Libya.
The current situation in Libya is reminiscent of Lebanon during its civil war. Several groups are at once trying to take control of the country. What remains of the national government is powerless. Government services such as the border police and customs have collapsed. It is in this chaotic vacuum that people smugglers find the freedom they need to strip desperate refugees of their money - and all too often, their lives.
Aside from this, the vacuum is also giving rise to Islamofascist groups like ISIS. The self-labeled Libyan chapter of ISIS likes to engage in the slaughter of innocents. What they carry out is the kind of butchery Europe last witnessed during World War II, when Nazi extermination squads enjoyed killing those they deemed lesser beings.
When that war ended and the world came to know the truth about the horrors inside the Third Reich, Europeans said: never again. Then came the mass killings in the Yugoslav civil war, which Europeans were not able to stop without U.S. help. After that war, Europeans said: never again. Then came Rwanda, after which Europe again said: never again.
Just a few years ago, Europeans and Americans removed the murderous dictator Moammar Ghaddafi. The Europeans made the same error they had accused Americans of after toppling Iraq's Saddam Hussein in 2003: neglecting to engage in proper nationbuilding, or even having a strategy for it. Now as Libya descends into civil war, it presents a gateway to Europe not only to refugees, but also to ISIS terrorists.
It is time to own up to Europe's mistakes and stem the tide in Libya. The European Union should engage with the United Nations to set up a large peacekeeping force with a tough mandate, and go to Libya to restore stability, separate the warring factions and disarm them - by force if necessary. Then organize a conference with the factions and establish a democratic federal republic that restores border patrols and law and order.
It will not be easy. It will cost money, it may cost lives. But at least it's a lot better plan than trying to mop the floor dry while the water keeps flowing from an open faucet.
