The European Union's Irini mission in the Mediterranean is crucial to enforcing a United Nations arms embargo against Libya and will also be vital to preserving a ceasefire in the war-torn country, Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio said on Monday.
Irini is "a balanced mission" that requires planes and satellite equipment "to give it credibility"" he said at a press conference with his German counterpart Heiko Maas, who visited the mission's Rome headquarters with Di Maio.
“If we stop the arrival of weapons, or strongly reduce them, we will be able to reduce the aggressiveness of the Libyan parties in this conflict,” Di Maio said.
Irini will also be decisive in ending Libya's six-year-old civil war by stopping weapons entering the country, Di Maio claimed.
“Even once there is a cease-fire, I think the (arms embargo) mission will still be important, because especially with a truce, we have to limit the arrival of weapons in Libya," Di Maio stated.
