TRIPOLI. Three EU ministers in Tripoli, a joint mission of Italy, France and Germany to give for once a signal of unity to Libya and the entire Mediterranean area. Europe therefore tries to return to Libya. For months the EU countries have not found an agreement, they have supported one or the other of the warring parties in the African country. Except being sidelined by those who really made the war, Russia and Turkey. Now is the time to try to collaborate, even if competition between Europeans will still be inevitable. The three foreign ministers are in Tripoli on a highly symbolic trip to meet the new transitional government of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah.
For Luigi Di Maio it is the second time in 4 days. But after the formation of the government that will lead the country to elections on December 24, the Draghi government has decided to speed up its diplomatic work to consolidate the political framework in Libya. And it has decided to do so first of all with France and Germany, the main European partners involved in stabilizing the country.
The Italian minister with his French colleague Jean Yves Le Drian and the German Heiko Maas confirmed that “the EU is ready to collaborate with Libyan institutions and work towards common goals: restarting the economy to relaunch living conditions, the context general social policy for Libyan citizens. In parallel, this will serve the institutions to work with an eye to a not immediate future. One of the fears always remains that of the smuggling of migrants, we are moving towards the summer, towards a moment in which we need their maximum collaboration to be able to manage the issue of migration “.
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The mission of the three ministers (the EU High Representative Josep Borrell is expected in Tripoli subsequently for a separate mission) is the sign of the EU’s newfound unity on the Libyan dossier, with France, which after the ambiguities related to its support for the general Khalifa Haftar is now fully on the side of the new government. President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday the reopening of the embassy in Tripoli, closed for seven years, after meeting in Paris with the new President of the Presidential Council Mohammed El Menfi.
Already in the bilateral visit last Sunday, Di Maio listened to Prime Minister Dbeibah who illustrated the most urgent needs of the Libyan government: first of all, support for the normalization of electricity supplies. For years, the electricity grid and production plants have been abandoned. Maintenance before the summer is very urgent, and this is what Tripoli is asking from Italy and Europe in the meantime. Blackouts in Tripoli are reduced at this stage, but in summer they also reach 20 hours of darkness, which means having freezers and air conditioners off, unless you live perpetually connected to private generators.
Yesterday in the Senate, Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced that he should also be in Tripoli on 6 April, his first visit abroad. The premier launched the first political messages, asking for what the countries that have chosen not to fight in Libya repeat, that is, that foreign mercenaries leave the country as soon as possible, even those transferred to Libya from Turkey.
Let’s help the new Libya, so the Mediterranean will return to everyone’s sea
by MARCO MINNITI
For days in this part of Libya, Turkish planes have been seen bringing back the first Syrian militiamen brought to Libya to face the assault of General Haftar. But many remain in this part of the country, while from Sirte to the east there are the Russians of Wagner along with Chadian, Sudanese and other militiamen engaged with the militias of General Haftar.
Draghi in the Senate said that “the Italian government’s foreign policy line is to support the government of national unity in Libya, with the aim of reaching elections in early December. Italy defends – in Libya, in the eastern Mediterranean, but almost everywhere – its national interests and international cooperation in the field of security with its strategic partners ”.
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