TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Tuesday urged the Libyan government to ensure that the country’s ceasefire is maintained and strictly observed.
In comments to the press alongside Libya’s interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, Draghi said the two leaders had spoken about immigration and economic cooperation between the two countries with strong historic ties.
For Libya “to be able to proceed with courage and decisiveness it is a prerequisite that the ceasefire must continue and be strictly observed,” Draghi said after his first foreign trip since he took office in February.
Dbeibeh’s new U.N.-backed unity government took office last month with a mandate to improve services and prepare for a national election in December.
Libya has been torn by division and violence for a decade since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi and split between warring western and eastern factions in 2014.
(Reporting by Gavin Jones, editing by Angelo Amante)
