Press release

MIDDLE EAST - A BRIDGE FOR: 'STOP THE DOMINO EFFECT, NO MILITARY MISSION IN THE RED SEA'

Rome, 25 January 2024 - "We are alarmed by the ongoing discussion in Europe and at home to launch a military naval mission in the Red Sea without any UN mandate. The message to Arab public opinion would be very negative. On the one hand silence and inaction over the massacre of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. On the other, action to protect business and profits with a mission with a colonial flavour. The Middle East does not need new weapons and armies, but energetic and visible political and diplomatic action to stop the firing in Gaza and to put the issue of the rights of the Palestinian people on the negotiating table'.

This was stated in a statement by Alfio Nicotra and Angelica Romano, national co-presidents of the NGO Un Ponte Per, which has been operating in the Middle East for over 30 years.

"The mission in the Red Sea brings to mind the sending of Italian ships to the Persian Gulf in 1990. They too were justified by the government of the time as deterrence and pressure towards Iraq (today towards the Houthis). History has told us instead that they were used to wage war,' Romano and Nicotra point out.

'We must stop the domino effect that has been spreading like wildfire across the Middle East since 7 October,' Nicotra and Romano continue. "The security of trade routes can only be achieved by putting an end to the massacres and the use of war'.

"There is a problem of credibility of Italy and the European Union given the inaction towards the ongoing innocent bloodbath in the Gaza Strip and the choice of a new military mission in the Red Sea. This irresponsibly increases the risks for humanitarian and solidarity workers acting in the Middle East. Also for this reason,' Nicotra and Romano conclude, 'we appeal to the Italian government to abandon the military solution and act in all fora for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.