Migration is not a bilateral issue

Emanuela Paoletti has done a thorough job of dissecting a long-standing and complex issue, highlighting both its genesis and impact. She rightly notes that the issue is not only a bilateral one between Italy and Libya but also multilateral in impact in that it affects numerous Saharan, Sahelian, and African states. In so doing, she notes the full extent to which the migrant issue has been used by both Italy and Libya to advance other foreign and domestic issues. In particular, she emphasises that Gaddafi's treatment of it puts at risk his ambitions to lead a United States of Africa.