Atwasat

Pompeo: Need to work towards a ceasefire in Libya




Alwasat - Cairo Wed 02 Oct 2019, 10:20 PM
alwasat radio

US State Secretary Mike Pompeo and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said at a joint press conference in Rome on Wednesday they had discussed the Libya crisis, and in particular the upcoming Berlin international conference on Libya, where both states are going to push for a ceasefire.

Pompeo arrived in Italy on Tuesday and met with President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. On Wednesday, he met with Di Maio.

"For me it was a great pleasure to be able to address deeper some important issues that are in the center of our concerns, which is in particular the Libyan crisis. Stability in Libya is of utmost importance for us, not only because of our concerns on migration, but also because of terrorism risks. Everyone knows that Libya is very close to our borders," Di Maio said at a joint press conference.

He underlined the importance of the conference in Berlin, saying that Rome was already working on it.

"Also, the role of the United States will be important in the work that we can do together to stimulate all actors of this matter to move toward ceasefire," he added.

Asked what role the United States is going to play at the conference, Pompeo said the US missions were working to convince all the parties in the conflict that the political process must move forward.

"We had extensive discussions today as well about Libya. Our visions are very similar. We recognize that first support thing that we need to do is to scale down the level of violence to the ceasefire, to convince all the relevant parties that are on the ground there, as well as those who have been supporting it from the outside, that the political solution is the only one that provides a real opportunity to create an outcome in Libya that is remotely adequate for Italy, but most importantly for people in Libya," Pompeo said.

He expressed hope for this outcome to be achieved in the coming weeks, including due to work of the Berlin conference.

Pompeo will also meet with Pope Francis on Thursday and visit the home of his relatives in the Italian region of Abruzzo.

Berlin is expected to host a UN international conference on Libya in late October or early November.

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