Italy's populist premier Giuseppe Conte on Tuesday ruled out sending troops to its former colony of Libya, saying that dialogue between its warring sides, not military force, was the only way to stabilise the chaos-wracked country.
"An Italian military deployment in Libya can be excluded," Conte told Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore in an interview.
The international conference on Libya that Italy hosted in November did much more to help it regain influence in the oil-rich country than sending troops there, Conte argued.
"A military presence could further destabilised the country," he said.
The only way forward for Libya is to support United Nations-brokered dialogue between its rival factions aimed at convincing them to put national unity and the good of the country before personal interests, Conte said.
"This is the sole alternative to guarantee peace and prosperity for Libyans' children and grandchildren," Conte said.