Libya's interior minister Fathi Bashaga held talks in Rome on Thursday with his Italian counterpart Matteo Salvini, with defence minister Elizabetta Trenta and with deputy foreign minister Emanuela Del aimed at strengthening the UN-backed government's control over security in the chaos-stricken country and to rein in the power of its armed groups.
Italy's premier Giuseppe Conte confirmed Bashaga's presence in Rome as well as that of the second-in-command of the UN's mission in Libya, Stephanie Williams, telling reporters that Libya was "the main focus of our foreign policy".
Bashaga's visit came the day after UN-backed premier Fayez al-Sarraj and powerful eastern warlord Khalifa Haftar agreed in UN-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi to reform Libya's constitution, hold national elections and "on ways to maintain stability in the country and unify its institutions", according to a statement from the UNSMIL mission.
Libya has been in turmoil since the Nato-backed ouster of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with rival governments in Tripoli and the east of the country backed by a myriad of militias who are vying for control of the oil-rich North African country.
