Italian Ambassador to Libya Giuseppe Buccino confirmed that Italy would work with Germany and a number of European states to “rebalance” the EU’s Operation ‘IRINI’ by also monitoring land borders and preventing illegal crude oil smuggling.
Buccino’s remarks came during a meeting on Monday with Ahmed Maiteeq, Vice President of the Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord (GNA).
Maiteeq stressed that the EU operation had overlooked the need to monitor Libya’s eastern land, sea and air borders.
The main goal of Operation IRINI is to support the implementation of the UN arms embargo on Libya.
It does so by using maritime, aerial and satellite assets to monitor shipments of arms and other illicit activities in the Mediterranean.