Nations have stepped up a diplomatic push to broker an "inclusive" and "sustainable" peace in war-wracked Libya under the auspices of the United Nations, Italy's premier Giuseppe Conte said on Monday.
"Diplomatic activity has intensified to find a pathway to an inclusive and sustainable solution beneath the umbrella of the UN," Conte said.
"International cohesion is the route to this solution which very clearly must involve not only Libyan actors but international players," he said.
Conte made the remarks to journalists after talks in Rome with Qatar's deputy premier and foreign minister Mohammed al-Thani on halting the military escalation in Tripoli that has killed over 140 people, injured more than 600 this month and caused over 16,000 to flee their homes since rogue eastern commander Khalifa Haftar ordered his militia to advance on the capital.
The talks with Thani and with the UN-backed government in Tripoli's deputy premier Ahmed Maitig in Rome on Monday are a sign of the Italian government's eagerness to play a greater role in Libya, according to observers.
A UN-backed national conference in southwest Libya slated for 14-16 April that was due to hammer out a roadmap for elections has been cancelled due to the warfare in the capital between Haftar's militia and forces loyal to the UN-backed government.
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