Malta’s Ambassador to Libya was “prohibited” from entering Tripoli airport after Libya barred entry into the country of European travellers during the Schengen visa row with Switzerland last year, according to a confidential US Embassy cable.
The incident happened on February 14 when Libya lived up to its threat it would ban Schengen visa holders from entering the country in retaliation to a Swiss government decision to blacklist 188 Libyan government officials, including Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his family.
The confidential cable sent by US Ambassador Gene Cretz in Tripoli to the State Department on February 16 was one of many documents released by whistleblower site Wikileaks on Monday.
Mr Cretz said Libya’s decision to fulfil its threat led to “airport chaos”.
“The Libyans began segregating Europeans from other arriving passengers late on February 14, holding them in the airport for several hours before ultimately deporting tens of European nationals, including several with valid residency permits,” Mr Cretz wrote.
The cable refers to an encounter between the American consul and some Maltese passengers who had arrived in Libya on an Air Malta flight. “They had been detained at the airport for five hours, without food or water, before finally being allowed entry.”
According to Mr Cretz, the consul observed that the Maltese Ambassador was not allowed into the airport and the Italian consul, who was at the airport’s main arrival hall, was not permitted to enter the rest of the facility.
Mr Cretz also observed the situation “seemed to have improved somewhat” by February 16, with only 20 Schengen nationals deported. This development was partly attributed to fewer Schengen area travellers attempting to make it to Libya as European governments warned of possible delays.
In a second cable on February 17, Mr Cretz reported that a meeting between the Libyan, Italian and Maltese foreign ministers in Rome was “likely to lead to resolution of the Schengen visa crisis”.
The issue of illegal immigration also featured in at least two leaked cables released by Wikileaks.
In the first confidential cable dated December 5, 2008 then Maltese Ambassador to Libya Joseph Cassar is quoted as saying the death of a key Libyan official “negatively impacted” Libya’s responsiveness on illegal immigration issues.
The Libyan official was engineer Fawzi Ghariba, former director of international cooperation for Libya’s port authority, who was the “key interlocutor” on migration issues.
Dr Cassar is quoted complaining the Libyan government’s response to Malta’s requests was “disappointing”.
On instructions from the Foreign Ministry, Dr Cassar is reported to have asked the Libyan government “several times” when a successor to Mr Ghariba might be identified.
“However, the Libyan government has demurred, saying it would be unseemly to rush to appoint a replacement,” the cable reported.
This happened at a time when Malta started to experience an increasing and uncharacteristic tide of illegal immigrants during the winter months.
In a second cable dated April 2, 2009, Mr Cretz quoted an unidentified project manager working with the International Organisation for Migration speculating the weaker economy because of the international recession “actually made transit less expensive for migrants as smugglers were willing to take lower fees”.
In the same cable, Mr Cretz reported that the Maltese Ambassador had told American policy officials a memorandum of understanding signed between Malta and Libya on operations in the respective search and rescue areas called for “little more than a pledge from Libya to pick up the phone”.
The memorandum of understanding had been signed the previous month and Foreign Minister Tonio Borg had lauded it as Malta and Libya’s desire to promote friendly relations and improving the safety of life at sea.
Almost two weeks later, nearly 400 migrants were saved from capsized vessels off Libya’s coast, with some 200 people feared lost at sea.
According to Mr Cretz, despite arrangements outlined in the search and rescue agreements with both Italy and Malta, Libyan officials did not immediately respond.