Newsletter 09/24 - Reparations and not blackmail to Libya

During the 2010s the Treaty of friendship, partnership and cooperation between the Italian Republic and the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (now the State of Libya) remains in apparent suspension, with international law experts wondering what remains of it and what is its real relevance.

On April 6, 2021 the interim Prime Minister of Libya Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibeh hopes, during the meeting with the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy Mario Draghi in Tripoli, "the reactivation of the Friendship Agreement signed in 2008 for Libya, in all its aspects". And it is precisely from 2021 that activities resume, as can be seen on page 489 of the Appendix to the Explanatory Note on the multi-year laws on non-permanent capital expenditure of the 2023 Economic and Financial Document, even if most of the sum has so far only been set aside and the total burden is only about half of the five billion US dollars provided for in Article 8 of the Treaty of friendship, partnership and cooperation.

On January 18, 2024 the Equal joint commission provided for in Article 9 of the Treaty of friendship, partnership and cooperation meets in Rome and Italy would have confirmed on that occasion the compliance with the reparatory measures provided for by the Treaty itself.

On September 4, 2024 the Presidents of Egypt Abdel Fattah al Sisi and Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan meet in Ankara, continuing the rapprochement process begun in recent months with the meeting in Cairo and envisaging a possible rapprochement between the various protagonists of Libyan political, economic and military life, despite the blockade of oil exports in recent weeks.

Colonialism Reparation asks that Italy respect the Treaty of friendship, partnership and cooperation by presenting sincere apologies and adequate compensation to Libya for its colonial past and avoiding blackmail maneuvers.