Foreign minister Luigi Di Maio has not ceased to work for the release of 18 Sicilian fishermen held in Libya since the start of September, he said on Wednesday in a video address on Facebook.
"I have not forgotten the fishermen in Libya. We are doing our utmost and will keep working," Di Maio said.
Silence from Italian officials over the case should not be mistaken for "inactivity", Di Maio underlined.
"There is a major mediation going on, we are not at a standstill but are actively working - with the reserve that such work and diplomacy requires," he said.
The fishermen are being detained in the eastern port city of Benghazi after local security forces intercepted their boats off Libya's coast on 1 September for allegedly entering the country's waters.
Over 50 Italian boats have been seized, two confiscated, about 30 fishermen detained and dozens of people injured over the past 25 years in the 'gambero rosso' war for the prized red Mediterranean prawn according to data from Sicily’s Distretto della Pesca. Detainees are usually released after a few weeks and a string of negotiations.
