Four Italians kidnapped in Libya

(ANSA) - Rome, July 20 - Four Italians were kidnapped in Libya Sunday, the foreign ministry said Monday. The four were kidnapped near an Eni oil and gas company complex in the city of Mellitah in western Libya, the ministry said in a statement.
    It added that the four were workers for the Bonatti construction company that specializes in oilfield work.
    Libyan sources said the four were kidnapped as they returned Sunday from Tunisia.
    The sources said that local security officials had not yet identified the kidnappers.
    The Greenstream underwater pipeline project begins near Mellitah and runs underwater to the Sicilian city of Gela.
    Greenstream is said to be the largest pipeline running under the Mediterranean, stretching some 520 kilometres at a depth of more than 1,100 meters. Italy closed its embassy in Libya on February 15, and urged Italians to leave the North African country because of risks to foreigners there, the ministry statement said.
    Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said the crisis unit of his department was working urgently on the case but it was difficult to speculate on who was behind the kidnappings.
    Gentiloni, who will meet with UN special envoy on Libya Bernardino Leon at the foreign ministry in Rome Tuesday, said he did not think the abductions were a reprisal for Italy's support for the new government being formed in Libya.
    Gentiloni said the EU is considering individual sanctions against "hardliners" in Libya who oppose the signing of a UN-sponsored power-sharing agreement reached in Morocco.
    Gentiloni said the "hypothesis" of sanctions against "three to four" individuals who oppose the peace process could go into effect if there aren't changes among certain factions in Tripoli, despite the fact that there was support for the process from "most" members from Libya.
    "Eleven of the 13 mayors and many militias are in favor of the peace process," Gentiloni said.
    "Still, there has been a strong and threatening pressure from some hardliners against the possibility that there could be positive discussion in Tripoli," he said, referring to those individuals against whom sanctions might be imposed if they continued their opposition.
    Four years after a revolution in Libya ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi, two opposing governments are fighting for control of the oil-rich country where ISIS is gaining a foothold.
    The conflict is pushing many Libyans to flee to European shores, causing an immigration crisis, especially for countries in close proximity such as Italy.
    The internationally recognised government in Tobruk said it would open a probe into the abductions, saying "the situation in the country has deteriorated and there is now daily instability".
    Condemning the kidnappings, it said they were "against the ethics of all Libyans".
    Tobruk also called for the lifting of an arms embargo so its forces could more effectively fight terrorists.
    Meanwhile Rome's prosecutors and investigators from the Carabinieri anti-terrorism ROS unit said they were investigating the kidnappings as being carried out for the purpose of terrorism. Italian intelligence services were said to be "examining all possible leads".
    Built by Italian oil groups Eni and Agip in partnership with Libya's state oil company NOC, Greenstream carries some 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Mellitah to Gela and then on into southern Europe.
    Mouths were zipped at the Bonatti HQ in Parma, given the foreign ministry's orders to protect the anonymity of the four.
    But a poster at its Wafa field in Libya said: "Freedom for Gino, Salvo, Filippo and Fausto".
    Founded in 1946, the international company employs 46,000 people worldwide.
    The Community of the Arab World in Italy (Co-mai) called for the release of the four Italians.
    "Our sympathy is with the families of those kidnapped, who are spending these hours torn by fear and desperation. Our support is also with the Italian government, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, and Premier Matteo Renzi, who are working for the safety of these citizens and for peace in the Middle East," the group said in a statement.
    The abductions brought to five the number of Italians in captivity around the world.
    Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, a Jesuit missionary, has been missing in Syria since July 2013.