“Italy strongly condemned the bomb attack in Bahrain or doesn’t condone any act of violence for that matter,” Maurizio Massari, Special Envoy to the Italian Minister for the Mediterranean and the Middle East told a Press conference on Thursday.
Ambassador Maurizio, who was in Bahrain as part of his GCC visit, called upon both sides to resolves outstanding issues through political dialogue.
Maurizio, who was joined by the Italian Ambassador in Bahrain, urged both sides to resume constructive dialogue as part of efforts to reach on a path of the national reconciliation.
“Italy sees the dialogue as the best way to reach a consensus on any national issue and we urge both Government and opposition to pursue the path of dialogue as escalation in violence in nobody’s favour,” Ambassador Maurizio said.
To a question of Human Rights he said that his Government like other EU peers conveyed the message to the concerned authorities about the political activist Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja. “We have conveyed our concerned with a full respect to Bahrain’s sovereignty and the working of the free and fair judicial system. Italy’s stance on the human rights issue is the same like that of most of the European countries and we expect that such concerned will be heard,” he said.
Talking about the Syrian deadlock he said that the global community’s patience was running out and immediate steps would help to stop the bloodshed in the country.
“Italy seeks a tougher resolution from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) with the support of both China and Russia in the days ahead,” he said.
“If the Thursday deadline doesn’t achieve any result then the international community needs to address the issue through a unanimous approach by using the UNSC as a right platform,” he said.
“There is a need of cessation of bloodshed in Syria at the hands of the Government Forces then through a diplomatic and political means both government and opposition should work on a greater peace plan in Syria. The question remains that how Russia and China subscribe on a UNSC binding resolution which will be starting point for diplomacy on Syria,” he said.
“Russia should realise that by maintaining a status quo in Syria is not in interest of even Russia as every side should push the Anan peace plan and the international community is not in position see another veto,” he said.
The Italian diplomat ruled out the option of arming the opposition and said it might engulf the entire country into a civil war with a chance of spilling over such war across the region or to the neighbouring countries.
Reacting to the firing by the Syrian Army at fleeing refugees, he said Italy was worried about the escalation of use in force across the borders of other countries like Turkey and Lebanon.
“Italy has 1200 soldiers in Lebanon under the UN mandate and we will make sure that such acts of firing should not be repeated again by Syrian forces,” he said.
Highlighting the importance of bilateral ties with Bahrain he said the Kingdom of Bahrain would remain a very strategic ally of Italy and could play a vital role in the greater GCC-EU talks over Iran, Syria and the Middle East peace.
Ambassador Maurizio hoped that the quartet meeting would come up with positive outcome of talks as there would be no absolute peace without resolving the Israel-Palestine issue.
“There is a need to establish a confidence between Israel and Palestine before start taking concrete steps. The Middle East issue is a focal point when it comes to a sustainable peace in the region,” he said.
On the issue of Iran he said Italy would support to exert pressure on Iran through sanctions so that the nuclear issue should be addressed according to the guidelines of the IAEA.
He shunned question of Iran’s action to stop supply oil to Europe he said Italy has had well diversified channels of its oil imports.