Italy's foreign minister Di Maio says EU agreed mission to block arms supply in Libya

• He said was not a revival of Operation Sophia, and would be deployed on the East coast of Libya where arms trafficking is taking place.
• EU member states agreed to supply seven plans and seven boats for the mission, should they have them available.

BRUSSELS: Italy's foreign affairs minister Luigi Di Maio said on Monday that European Union member states have agreed to start a mission to block the entry of weapons into Libya, following talks of the EU's 27 foreign affairs minister in Brussels.

"The European Union commits to an aerial and naval mission, with a terrestrial component, to block the weapons and the entry of weapons in Libya," Di Maio said in Brussels.

The mission, he said, was not a revival of Operation Sophia, and would be deployed on the East coast of Libya where arms trafficking is taking place.

EU member states agreed to supply seven plans and seven boats for the mission, should they have them available.