The foreign ministers of France, Germany and Italy were in Tripoli to meet their Libyan counterpart on Thursday in a demonstration in support of the war-torn country’s newly formed unity government.
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The joint visit of French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Germany’s Heiko Maas and Italy’s Luigi Di Maio comes ten days after the formation of an interim government to lead Libya to the December elections.
Oil-rich Libya sank into chaos after dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in a 2011 NATO uprising, which resulted in several forces vying for power.
The fighting did not stop until last summer and a formal ceasefire in October was followed by the creation of a new government of national unity (GNU) led by caretaker Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
The new transition leader came from a complex UN-sponsored process launched in November and its members confirmed by the Libyan parliament on March 10.
The country had been divided between two rival administrations: the UN recognized government for national agreement (GNA) based in Tripoli, and its rival in the east loyal to Putchist general Khalifa Haftar.
Libya’s population of 7 million, which sits on Africa’s largest proven crude oil reserves, is facing a serious economic crisis with high unemployment, crippling inflation and endemic corruption.
Another important challenge will be to secure the departure of an estimated 20,000 mercenaries and foreign fighters still in the country, whose presence Dbeibah has called “a stab in the back”.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was “still deeply concerned” that “foreign elements” continue to operate in the North African country, in a report discussed by Security Council members on Wednesday.
