Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio
said at an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels Monday that
the Sophia operation had not been revived and that an EU mission
to enforce an arms embargo on Libya had been agreed on instead.
"The Sophia mission was not enough to block the entry of
arms. And it cannot exist any more. And it does not exist any
more," he said.
"This new mission, with a new mandate, advanced here today,
will give a major naval contribution that will be deployed on
the eastern side of the Libyan coast, where the arms flow is
arriving.
"The proposal to halt the mission if it were to exercise a
pull factor is also excellent, although that will not happen if
we only have the ships in the east.
"Obviously for this we need a new mandate for this mission".
"I'm very happy," he went on.
"All the EU States have agreed to create a mission that
blocks the entry of arms into Libya.
"Now the EU is committing with a naval and air mission, and
with ground resources too, to block the entry of arms into
Libya".
He stressed "the Sophia mission no longer exists, now there
is a mission that blocks arms".
Di Maio said the new mission would be halted if it exerts a
pull factor on migrants.
He said the decision on the new mission "means that finally
Italy has been heard".
With this mission, he said, "we return as EU and as Italy to
be protagonists in Libya, but with the posture of those who want
peace and not those who want to feed war".
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