The EU naval operation to save migrants and disrupt human-trafficking networks is “lunacy” and brings “shame” on Europe, a Belgian government minister has said.

At least 126 refugees are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea after the motor of their boat was stolen, causing it to sink, the United Nations’ migration agency has said.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is currently organising efforts to rescue around 200 mainly Somali and Ethiopian migrants it believes have been kidnapped and held and tortured in a Libyan detention centre.

Libyan forces have engaged in reckless conduct during recent rescue operations that endangered people being rescued in international waters in the Mediterranean, Human Rights Watch said today. These incidents indicate that Libyan forces lack capacity to safely perform search-and-rescue obligations.

Locals in Zuwara are up in arms at the lack of fuel and have been protesting in the town since Friday demanding an end to profiteering and fuel smuggling.

The European Union must do more to help protect migrants stranded in Libya and to convince its member states to share the burden of caring for refugees who reach Europe, a senior official at the International Organisation for Migration said.

“This will be a hot pursuit tonight,” the coast guard captain tells me. It is dusk over Tripoli’s harbor and we are standing in the control room of the Kifah, an aging, German-made patrol boat. I had joined its crew of eighteen one evening last month expecting to be searching …

One illegal immigrant was killed as gunmen attacked a patrol for the Libyan coastguards that had intercepted 570 immigrants off Sabratha shores, Libyan Nay said Saturday.

Official statistics are not available but many Libyans I know have either first-hand experience of being kidnapped or have had a family member or friend abducted. Most families do not speak out, fearing that if they go public their loved ones will be killed or tortured in captivity.

The United Nations launched a ($75.5-million) appeal to tackle a swelling humanitarian and migration crisis in Libya, on Tuesday as the country continues to be used as a staging post for crossings to Europe.