Italy has now rescued some 2,164 immigrants off the coast of lawless Libya in a major operation spanning the weekend.  But the situation took a frightening new twist as men with Kalashnikov rifles threatened Coast Guard rescuers in the middle of the operation.

With no effective government or border controls, Libya is the preferred launching point for sleazy human traffickers who take the last amounts of money from immigrants, put them into rickety boats, and send them north to Italy.  But as the Italian coastguard met a dozen boats that had set off from Libya, four men in a speedboat rushed out, and demanded the return of a dinghy that had been emptied of immigrants.  Before back-up could arrive, some of the gunmen hopped in, and took off back to Libya’s northern coast – presumably to fill it up again with the tired, poor, and hungry of sub-Saharan Africa or the war-torn Middle East.

The United Nations describes the Mediterranean Sea crossing from northern Africa to Italy as the most dangerous route in the world.  Last year, more than 3,200 people died attempting it, while more than 200,000 were rescued.  The UN is expecting more deaths, as the European Union has largely left Italy on its own to patrol the continent’s southern frontier.  Meanwhile, Italy is one of the latest countries to close up its embassy in Libya because of the deteriorating situation.