Italy and Egypt yesterday pressed for swifter action by the UN to find a political solution to Libya’s rapidly deteriorating security situation.
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni, speaking in parliament, urged the world to “quicken its pace before it is too late.”
Egypt this week launched airstrikes in Libya after the Islamic State group posted a video of the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians there, and yesterday it called on the UN to lift an arms embargo on Libya.
Photo: Reuters
Hours before a UN Security Council emergency meeting, Gentiloni said the UN must “double its efforts” to promote political dialogue among Libyans who are divided among competing militias, Muslim factions and tribal rivalries. He said the only solution to Libya’s problems is a political one.
A meeting on Wednesday last week in Ghadames, Libya, among Libyan factions, appeared to be “a step in the right direction,” Gentiloni said.
Italy is ready to monitor any ceasefire, contribute to peacekeeping efforts, repair infrastructure and provide military training so militias can be folded into the regular army, he said.
With Italian islands only a few hundred kilometers from Libya, Italy has borne the brunt of waves of migrants who are smuggled across the Mediterranean from Libya. Officials say more Libyan chaos could swell the numbers of migrants fleeing war in Syria and other conflicts.
Meanwhile, in talks in New York ahead of the UN Security Council meeting, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry told fellow diplomats that Libya’s internationally recognized government needed to be better armed to take on Muslim militias who have seized large parts of the country.
Shoukry is calling on the Security Council to “assume its responsibilities in regards to the deteriorating situation in Libya” and to “reconsider the restrictions imposed on the Libyan government on arms deliveries,” the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The minister also “underlined the need to allow countries in the region... to support the Libyan government’s efforts to impose its authority and restore stability,” it said.
Shoukry, who the ministry said had met with the UN envoys of the five permanent members of the Security Council, also called for steps to be taken “to prevent armed and terrorist groups from obtaining weapons illegally.”
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
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The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
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