Italy FM in Libya to boost ‘game changer’ unity government

TRIPOLI, April 13: Italy s foreign minister hailed Libya s new unity government Tuesday as a “game changer” as he held talks in Tripoli during the first visit by a top Western official since 2014.
In another boost to the unity leaders, lawmakers with Libya s internationally recognised parliament said they would vote next week on whether to endorse the UN-backed cabinet.
Italy s top diplomat Paolo Gentiloni met Fayez al-Sarraj, named prime minister-designate under a UN-backed power-sharing deal in December, amid tight security in Tripoli.
It came as representatives of dozens of countries and international organisations including the World Bank held talks in neighbouring Tunisia on ways to help the unity government shape its priorities.
World powers see the establishment of the unity cabinet as vital to tackling a raging jihadist insurgency and rampant people smuggling in the North African state.
“This decision was a game changer,” Gentiloni said in Tripoli of the establishment of the UN-backed government.
Foreign embassies would be reopened in the capital in “the near future”, he added.
Italy is supporting the unity government “because it will pave the way to the stabilisation of Libya — then we can manage human trafficking and smugglers and terrorism,” Gentiloni said.- AFP