Renzi Demands EU Hit Traffickers to End Modern Slavery

European Union governments must send officials to Africa to help prevent the trafficking of humans in a new slave trade, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on the eve of a special EU summit called to discuss ways to mitigate further tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea.

Renzi, addressing lawmakers in Rome on Wednesday, called on Europe to act after between 700 and 900 migrants died when their boat sank north of Libya at the weekend. As the humanitarian crisis shows no sign of abating, Europe, in collaboration with the United Nations, “must intervene in Nigeria, in Sudan, to the south of Libya,” he said.