The government on Tuesday held a
summit on the Libya crisis and migrants as militia fighting
continued in the Libyan capital Tripoli and the empty US embassy
was set on fire.
All the ministers concerned took part in the summit, with
Premier Giuseppe Conte presiding.
The government has already ruled out any Italian military
intervention, even by its special forces.
Militia fighters are moving closer to the UN-backed
government in Tripoli and the crisis may well have a knock-on
effect on migrants leaving for Italy.
Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini said Italy must be the
protagonist of stabilisation in the Mediterranean.
He said, referring to France, "the incursions of others who
have economic interests must not prevail over the common good
which is peace.
"I, too, am willing to run some risks and soon return to
Libya".
Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi on Tuesday phoned the
president of the Libyan presidential council, Faez al-Serraj
within the framework of action aimed at improving the situation
in Libya, the foreign ministry said.
Moavero confirmed to the Libyan PM "Italian solidarity and
support for the Libyan people and for its institutions in this
phase of great difficulty, ravaged by armed clashes in the
capital Tripoli", the foreign ministry said.
Moavero on Monday confirmed to the chairs of the
parliamentary foreign affairs committees that he was immediately
at the parliament's disposal to report on the overall situation
in Libya, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
European Union member States should give up their own
national agendas in Libya, European Parliament President Antonio
Tajani said Tuesday.
"The European Parliament must make its voice heard on the
crisis in Libya in the next plenary session," he said.
"Only by acting in a united way can we work for peace and
stability.
"The member States must stop promoting their own national
agendas, damaging all European citizens".
The position of the EU member States is united on Libya, a
spokesman for the European service for external action said
Tuesday, answering a question on Italy's charges against France.
"The member States of the EU have a united position on
Libya," he said.
Yesterday High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica
Mogherini spoke to UN special envoy Ghassan Salamé to whom she
assured "the full backing on the part of the EU" to find a
"long-term solution" via a "political process", the spokesman
said when asked how the EU intended to act.
Libya is "without doubt" the new peril for Europe with regard
to ISIS, Rita Katz, the head of terror-monitoring website SITE,
told ANSA Tuesday.
"Last year ISIS no longer existed in Libya, it had zero
suicide operations," she said.
"This year there have been a dozen already all over the
country".
Katz added that "some of the fighters in Iraq and Syria have
been able to return".
The death toll from more than a week of fighting between
armed groups in Tripoli has climbed to at least 50 people,
including civilians, Libyan authorities said Tuesday, as the UN
voiced alarm over the fate of detained migrants and Libyans
already displaced by years of unrest since Muammar Gheddafi's
ouster in 2011.
Fighting erupted last week when the Seventh Brigade, militias
which hail from Tarhouna, a town about 40 miles (60
kilometers) south of Tripoli, attacked southern neighborhoods
of the capital.
The Tripoli Revolutionaries' Brigades and the Nawasi Brigade
- militias which support the UN-backed government - have come
to the city's defence.
In addition to those killed, another 138 people, including
civilians, have been wounded, the health ministry said.
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