Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani arrived in Cairo on Saturday evening to meet his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry. Their discussions will focus on cooperation on migration issues and regional challenges, including developments in the situation in Libya and the wider Middle East.
The two will also discuss the war in Ukraine, and its repercussions on the global food crisis, according to the Nova news agency.
On Friday, Tajani said that resolving the problems of illegal immigration and energy in Europe, is linked to resolving the crisis in Libya.
Nova quoted Tajani stressing “the need to reach a solution to the election crisis in Libya.”
He noted that this could be achieved by reaching an agreement between the Libyan “overlapping” parties.
Notably, an Italian Coast Guard official has stated that 53,000 migrants arrived in Italy by sea, from Libya in 2022. This is an increase of 70% compared to 2021, according to the AKI news agency.
This was stated by Admiral Giuseppe Aulicino, Head of the Plans and Operations Department of the General Command of the Italian Coast Guard. He told a hearing of the Constitutional Affairs and Transport Committees that NGO ships operating on the Cyrenaica-Lampedusa line had rescued more than 11,000 people, 34% of whom departed from western Libya.
He noted that a total of 105,000 migrants arrived by sea in 2022, an increase of 56% over the previous year. 1,401 of them departed from Algeria, and 32,000 from Tunisia, an increase of 60% compared to 2021.
According to the official, there are two flow lines from Libya: the Tripoli region in the West, where 33,000 migrants departed, and the Cyrenaica region in the East, where 20,000 migrants departed. As well as 17,000 migrants coming via the eastern Mediterranean route (Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria).
Libya has been in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The county has for years been split between rival administrations, each backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.
The current stalemate grew out of the failure to hold elections in December, and the refusal of Prime Minister Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba, who is leading the transitional government, to step down. In response, the country’s eastern-based Parliament appointed a rival Prime Minister, Fathi Bashagha, who has for months sought to install his government in Tripoli.
