Italy is still striving for a permanent ceasefire, for the enforcement of a United Nations arms embargo on war-torn Libya and a negotiated political solution to the years-old conflict, foreign ministry Luigi Di Maio stated on Monday.
"Italy continues to work for a political solution to the Libyan crisis, starting with the full implementation of the conclusions of the Berlin conference," Di Maio wrote on Facebook.
Di Maio referenced a summit held in the German capital in January at which world powers pledged to ensure the much-violated UN arms embargo on Libya and the truce agreed between its warring parties are respected.
"The way forward is a permanent ceasefire by the strict upholding of the arms embargo," Di Maio's post went on.
The European Union must "contribute" to this outcome and "speak with a single voice," Di Maio argued.
"In this way diplomacy can prevail - we must end all military action in Libya and stop external meddling," the post went on.
Di Maio on Monday held talks at the foreign ministry in Rome with the interior minister of Libya's UN-backed unity government, Fathi Bashaga, the post noted.
"We spoke at length and I reiterated Italy's full support," Di Maio's post added.
Oil-rich Libya has had no effective central government since the Nato-backed ouster of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. It has had rival administrations in the east and in Tripoli since 2014, each backed by a myriad of armed groups.
In a deadly escalation of the conflict, eastern warlord Khalifa Haftar's forces launched a military offensive last April to take Tripoli from rival militias loyal to the unity government. The two sides brokered a shaky truce in the fighting last month.
