The Italian General Staff denied the news about the decision to double the number of Italian soldiers present in Libya, stressing that this information is unfounded.
The statement stated, according to what was published by the Italian Nova Agency, that “the number of Italian soldiers currently in Libya is 250 out of a total of 400 who are licensed, and there are currently no talks with the Libyan authorities aimed at increasing the number of our mission personnel there, contrary to what was circulated by some unqualified sources.”
The statement added, “According to what was approved by the Council of Ministers on June 17 last, 17 missions will be deployed in Africa within the framework of the Italian strategy aimed at giving greater attention to the south, especially three regions of the African continent that appear geographically far apart but are interconnected with each other, namely the Gulf of Guinea in the southwest of the continent, the Horn of Africa in the southeast and Libya in the far north on the shores of the Mediterranean, where peacekeeping is a priority to support the United Nations’ stabilization initiative.”
