Italy’s Foreign Ministry says four Italians have been kidnapped near an Eni oil and gas company complex in the western Libyan city of Mellitah.
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Four Italian citizens have been kidnapped in Libya, the Italian foreign ministry said on Monday.
The workers are employed by Bonatti, a company that provides services to the oil, gas and energy sector, a spokesman confirmed.
Plunged into chaos since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Muammar Qaddafi, Libya has two parliaments and governments vying for power, as a slew of armed groups battle for control of its oil wealth.
“As you know, following the closure of the Embassy of Italy in Libya on February 15, the foreign ministry had reported the extremely hard situation in the country and called on all compatriots to leave Libya”, the ministerial statement said. The countrt is now bitterly divided between government cornered in the country’s east and an elected parliament and also, an Islamist militia-backed government in the west that has seized the capital of Tripoli.
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The United Nations envoy for Libya, meanwhile, has urged the Islamist-led government in Tripoli to sign a peace deal that would establish a unity government.
