Advertise On EU-Digest

Annual Advertising Rates

2/4/12

Italy and Libya move to re-establish old friendship

The links between Italy and its former North African territory go back not only to the brief 36 years of colonial rule at the beginning of the 20th Century, but to a much remoter past - nearly two millennia ago, to be exact.

In the Italian capital Rome, the triumphal arch erected by Septimius Severus - the first African-born Roman emperor (he was born in Libya and died in York in England during a military expedition to Britain) - still dominates the ruins of the Roman Forum.

A treaty of "eternal friendship" had been signed between Silvio Berlusconi and Muammar Gaddafi in 2008. ENI, Italy's state owned oil company, enjoyed valuable long-term oil concessions, both in the Sahara desert and - for the future - offshore, and 25% of Italy's oil and gas needs were supplied by the former colony.

The friendship treaty became a dead letter after Nato's bombing raids flew out of Italian military airfields. Italy's embassy in Tripoli was burned and trashed by Gaddafi mobs.

Now, very slowly and tentatively, relations are being restored. "Paternalism is not the order of the day," a senior Italian diplomat told me. The Monti government has held out a hand of friendship offering assistance in many fields including the training of Libya's future security and police forces.


For more: BBC News - Italy and Libya move to re-establish old friendship

No comments: