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AP Exclusive: Libya rejects EU migrant plan, says not consulted; warns of taking Tripoli

Associated Press
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Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's United Nations ambassador, participates in an interview, Friday, May 8, 2015 in New York. Dabbashi is largely rejecting a European Union plan to fight the growing migrant crisis by seizing smuggling ships in Libya’s territorial waters. Dabbashi made it clear that his government has been left out of the urgent discussion of the migrant crisis, with thousands of people from the Middle East and Africa setting off from Libya’s shore for Europe and many dying at sea. (AP Photo/Cara Anna) (The Associated Press)

Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's United Nations ambassador, participates in an interview, Friday, May 8, 2015 in New York. Dabbashi is largely rejecting a European Union plan to fight the growing migrant crisis by seizing smuggling ships in Libya’s territorial waters. Dabbashi made it clear that his government has been left out of the urgent discussion of the migrant crisis, with thousands of people from the Middle East and Africa setting off from Libya’s shore for Europe and many dying at sea. (AP Photo/Cara Anna) (The Associated Press)

Libya's ambassador to the United Nations is largely rejecting a European Union plan to fight the growing migrant crisis by seizing smuggling ships in Libya's territorial waters and even on land, and he says his Western-backed government hasn't even been consulted.

In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said the best way to calm the migrant crisis is to arm the internationally recognized government in a country that has fractured. A rival regime backed by Islamist-allied militias has taken the capital, Tripoli.

And the ambassador warns that if there is no progress in U.N.-led peace talks, his government "has to take necessary steps even to take the capital by force."

Security Council diplomats have said Libya's blessing is needed for the EU migrant plan.