La Stampa: Libya denies an agreement to deploy Italian soldiers
Libya-Italy, Politics, 6/28/2003

secretary of the Libyan people's general committee for foreign contacts and international cooperation Abdul Rahman Shalqam has announced that Libya rejects the existence of Italian troops on its territories in the context of fighting illegal migration, while the Italian government presidency announced that the two countries are preparing to sign an agreement in this regard.

Shalqam told the Italian daily "La Stampa" issued yesterday "we will not accept any military presence on our territories." Shalqam said "we will discuss during the visit of the Italian minister of the interior Giuseppe Pisanu next week to Libya a cooperation agreement between Italy and Libya ." He stressed that " Libya is not responsible for this crisis, rather a victim to it."

Questioning the flawed reasoning and demands, he explained " we, at least, need 50 helicopters to monitor our borders, but there is an embargo." He questioned " why should we buy planes to monitor our coasts ? You are rich and yet, you are not putting soldiers to monitor your borders."

The statements of the Libyan official came in reply to an announcement made by the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday on a coming agreement between the two countries stating to send Italian troops to the Libyan borders and ports.

The Italian prime minister had announced before the parliament the signing of an agreement with Libya to send Italian military men for patrols along the Libyan coasts. He added " we are preparing to sign an agreement to send Italian soldiers to monitor the Libyan ports and borders that will permit our ships to sail in the Libyan territorial waters like what is taking place currently off the coasts of Albania."

In a statement the Italian Cabinet presidency, he said the two countries are preparing to finalize an agreement on sending Italian military men to "train and organize the Libyan border guards" in order to carry out sea patrols along the Libyan coasts. The statement added that joint land and sea training will be held "inside and outside the Libyan territorial waters ."

Since several weeks, Italy has been witnessing a flow of refugees especially in Sicily and Lampidusa island.

Previous Stories:
  Libyan, Italian agreement on fighting illegal immigrants   (6/26/2003)
  Libyan- Italian talks on the Iraqi war   (4/3/2003)
  Italian prime minister asks Qathafi to mediate with Iraq   (2/8/2003)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search