Italy's populist premier Giuseppe Conte said on Wednesday that nations must avoid a "short-sighted", self-interested approach in Libya, where a deadly internecine conflict risks escalating into an all-out civil war.
"Libya is our top priority. We are trying rebuild trust and therefore dialogue to achieve a political solution," Conte told reporters outside the parliament in Rome.
"Sometimes actors are short-sighted and favour one side or the other according to their own interests," he said.
His remarks came as Italy's foreign minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi and the United Nations special envoy held talks in Rome as part of a diplomatic push for a truce to the fighting in Tripoli that has killed at least 272 people, injured 1,282 and displaced 35,000 according to the UN.
Warfare broke out in Tripoli on 5 April when eastern Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar ordered his self-styled Libyan National Army to enter the capital and met with fierce resistance from militias allied with internationally recognised government.
Haftar is allied to a rival administration in the eastern city of Tobruk. His offensive is aimed at toppling the UN-recognised government in Tripoli and has the backing of Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Regional powers have sided with rival camps that have vied for power in Libya since the Nato-backed ouster of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.