The former Italian Foreign Minister, Marco Minniti, said if Europe “hasn’t urgently moved to interfere in Libya, holding elections on schedule in the war-torn country will be difficult”.
Minniti told German newspaper, Die Welt, that the risks of renewal of tension in Libya are highly likely if general elections won’t be held on December 24, adding that the partition of the country to a Turkey-controlled and Russia-controlled areas will also be possible.
The former Italian Foreign Minister indicated that the Europe should propose signing an immigration and economic development charter with Libya and Tunisia, urging the two countries to exert more efforts in fighting human traffickers.
The current Italian Foreign Minister, Luigi di Maio, said the situation in Libya wasn’t that good but the international community was full aware of the Libyan people’s aspirations for holding elections, warning – in an interview on the sidelines of the UN 76th General Assembly meetings in New York – of the dangers of instability in Libya leading to the surfacing of terrorism and increase of illegal immigration, not to mention the return of armed conflict to the fore.
In the meantime, the Italian President, Mario Draghi, called at the General Assembly in New York, on the international community to start working with the Libyan state institutions and people to end the “current stalemate”, reiterating he need for holding elections on December 24 and the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement, which was signed in Geneva in October 2020.
