adminROME. — Italy called on Wednesday for urgent international action to halt Libya’s slide into chaos, and pledged it was ready to help monitor a ceasefire and train local armed forces. The UN Security Council was due to meet later on Wednesday to discuss Libya, where two rival governments, each backed by former rebels who toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, are battling for power.
The growing danger became apparent on Sunday when the Islamic state released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya.
Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told parliament that possible alliances between local militias and IS militants, inspired by counterparts in Syria and Iraq, risked destabilising neighbouring countries.
“The deterioration of the situation on the ground forces the international community to move more quickly before it’s too late,” he said in a special address on the crisis.
“There’s a clear risk of alliances between Daesh and local groups,” he said, using a common Arabic name for Islamic state.
“The situation must be monitored with the maximum attention.”
Italy, whose southern islands are only around 300 kilometres from the Libyan coast, has watched in alarm as the country has unravelled since Western forces helped topple Gaddafi.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants have arrived in southern Italy in unsafe boats, their departure from Libya facilitated by people smugglers operating freely in conditions of near-anarchy.
Last week, more than 300 were reported to have died attempting the perilous crossing. Italy ended its “Mare Nostrum” search-and-rescue mission in October. –_U-backed Triton mission that replaced it has been criticised as inadequate.
“We must significantly reinforce Triton to bring it into line with the reality of the enormous scale of the problem,” Gentiloni said. — Reuters.
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