No wounded among the 14 sailors, Italians and Tunisians, of the two Sicilian fishing boats seized by the Libyan Coast Guard and subjected to a police detention for investigations.
A Libyan patrol boat approached them, firing several shots, last Tuesday at 29 miles from the shores of Derna on charges of fishing in Libyan and non-international waters as claimed by the Italians.
The Foreign Ministry: "our diplomacy is committed so that the emergency will be resolved soon and at its best".
Khalifa Haftar, in an official statement, reiterates that the two vessels were intercepted in "Libyan territorial waters". The story is likely to become a political case if the release of crews will not be immediate. On the horizon there is the Palermo Conference where the Italian government hopes to bring to the table the strong man from Cyrenaica, General kalifa Haftar. According to Libyan media sources, Generalissimo Haftar has already announced that he does not want to participate in the Palermo conference. The detention of the two Italian fishing boats could be read as a means of obtaining guarantees from Italy on the Sicilian conference. It is a conference approved by the UN but which is already opening internal and external crises to Italy.
The Palermo conference is an important test for the government in foreign affairs and for the keeping of positions regarding the upcoming appointment of the heads of Italian intelligence.
Premier Giuseppe Conte, in this regard, does not want to disregard the wishes of Vice Prime Minister Matteo Salvini on the early renewal of the summits of AISE (Alberto Manenti) and DIS (Alessandro Pansa), which would end their mandate next April (already extended by one year last April).
The premier Giuseppe Conte then gathered the Committee for the Security of the Republic and the ministers involved to decide the appointments (this would be a passagge provided for by the relevant regulations). At the end of the meeting no indication emerged.
The biggest obstacles are linked to the upcoming Palermo summit for the Libya dossier.
The previous government had relied "in full" on the Services to increase contacts with the various factions competing for Libyan territory. With the sudden change in the heads of intelligence agencies, Italy risks losing contact with General Haftar and transforming the November peace conference on Libya into a "bluff" with unimaginable effects. Another issue is the Italian embassy in Tripoli, where Ambassador Giuseppe Perrone, considered an "unwelcome person" by Haftar and not really a friend of al-Serraj, had to leave the seat to his vicar.
Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi, writes Il Fatto Quotidiano, and Manenti himself have suggested to sacrifice Perrone not to compromise his solid friendship with Serraj and the expanding friendship with Haftar. Salvini, however, does not agree with Perrone's change. During a recent Council of Ministers he even had a very heated verbal confrontation with Moavero Milanesi.
Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini would like to radically change the strategy in Libya adopted by the former Marco Minniti and does not seem to be happy to have at the top of AISE Giovanni Caravelli, Manenti's deputy. Caravelli is one of the few Italians, however, who has relations with General Kalifa Haftar.
The outcome of the Palermo conference will probably dissolve the nodes of the top appointments of Italian services.
The Quirinale, in this regard, would have told the Government to immediately decide on the appointments of AISE and DIS, or wait for the natural end of the mandate next April, because the Conference of 12 and 13th November in Palermo it is too important for Italy and can not be the victim of the approximation.