Italy Would Consider UN Peacekeeping Role in Libya, Renzi Says
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said Italy must consider Libya a priority and his country would be ready to take part in United Nations-sponsored peacekeeping there.
Renzi is pushing for the success of UN-hosted talks among Libyas political parties next week in Geneva, he said in an interview on La7 television late yesterday.
If theres no success, Italy is ready to play a leading role, above all a diplomatic role, and then, always under the aegis of the UN, one of peacekeeping inside Libya, Renzi said. Libya cant be left in the condition it is now.
Violence is escalating and divisions are deepening in Libya, which is split between Islamists who control Tripoli in the west and the UN-recognized government of Abdullah al-Thinni in the east.
Renzi gave no further details on the possible Italian peacekeeping role in Libya and emphasized that diplomacy is a priority. Libya, a former Italian colony located about 520 kilometers (320 miles) from Sicily, holds Africas largest oil reserves.
The UN Support Mission in Libya said today the primary objective of next weeks talks will be to reach agreement on the management of the remainder of the transitional period, including the formation of a unity government that enjoys wide support within a stable environment.
Discussions will also seek to put in place the necessary security arrangements in order to bring an end to the armed hostilities raging in different parts of the country, the support mission said.
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said next weeks Geneva talks represent an important and long-awaited development in the international efforts to end the critical situation in Libya.
Italy wishes that all of the parties involved will want to seriously and concretely engage in the political process facilitated by the UN, Gentiloni said in an e-mailed statement today. The primary responsibility for a solution to the crisis in Libya falls to them.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Costelloe in Rome at kcostelloe@bloomberg.net
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Italy Would Consider UN Peacekeeping Role in Libya, Renzi Says