Middle East

Italy, France aim to chart common strategy on violent Libya

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Enzo Moavero Milanesi poses with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, left, at the Farnesina foreign ministry headquarters in Rome, Friday, April 19, 2019. (Angelo Carconi/ANSA via AP)

Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Enzo Moavero Milanesi, right, poses with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, at the Farnesina foreign ministry headquarters in Rome, Friday, April 19, 2019. (Angelo Carconi/ANSA via AP)

The foreign ministers of Italy and France say their countries are trying to forge a common strategy on Libya.

Italy's minster, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, told reporters Friday after the two held talks in Rome that lower-ranking ministry officials will meet next week in the Italian capital "to build the path toward a goal that remains a shared one."

French Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says there'll be no progress toward ending the current fighting in Libya "without a solid Franco-Italian agreement."

Italy and France both have energy and other strategic interests in Libya.

Fighting this month by militias loyal to rival governments in Tripoli and in eastern Libya is threatening to trigger a civil war on the scale of the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.