On Wednesday, Prime Minister of Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba, spoke of the importance of Italy’s role in combating illegal immigration during a meeting with the Italian Minister of Interior, Luciana Lamorgese and her accompanying delegation in Tripoli.
According to the GNU’s media office, the meeting also dealt with the current events in Tunisia, and their potential impact on the migration crisis.
Dbaiba stressed the need for further serious cooperation between both the Libyan and Italian Ministries of Interior in this regard. In turn, Lamorgese emphasised the need for continuous communication with her Libyan counterpart to coordinate on a number of important issues related to migration.
The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Interior, Major General Khaled Mazen, the Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, Adel Jumaa, and the Head of the Illegal Immigration Authority.
This comes two days after Italian Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio visited Libya and met with members of the GNU, as well as Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Khalifa Haftar, and Parliament Speaker, Ageela Saleh in eastern Libya.
On Monday, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced in a statement that 1,111 migrants were rescued in the central Mediterranean, and returned to Libya in the last week of July.
At least 360 migrants have died this year while trying to cross to Europe, while 570 remain missing. In 2020, some 381 people lost their lives, and 597 more were reported missing according to the IOM.
The central Mediterranean between Libya and Italy has become one of the deadliest routes for migrants. Last week, at least 57 migrants died, and 18 migrants were rescued after a boat capsized off the Libyan coast.