Nobody writes to the Colonel

As I write, the anti- Gaddafi forces are marching towards Tripoli and anything might happen. Reports are conflicting. We have had all sorts of speculative rumours and the average Maltese, after having pretended for decades that the Colonel does not exist, have to now live with the uncomfortable feeling he could from one moment to the next appear among us requesting asylum. We already had a story last Wednesday of a plane that was refused permission to land which was supposed to be ferrying Ayesha Gaddafi, the Colonel’s daughter. No doubt, we will have more of the same in the coming days.

The very idea of having such an undesirable anywhere near us at this stage sends shivers down my spine. The man is a bloodthirsty despot who is having people routinely executed and employing mercenaries to defend him.

All I know is that whatever happens, the Berlusconi-Gaddafi agreement that had kept the seas around us clear of boat people is now null and void. It was a question of who bowed out of history first. To be honest, I expected the Cavaliere to take the initiative and take a running jump, hounded as he is by hostile media making a meal of his sybaritic tastes for post-pubescent nymphettes. But no, events in Tunisia have sparked off rebellions across North Africa and it was merely a matter of time before the most oppressive of regimes was toppled. Compared to the Colonel the other potentates like Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak are mere pussycats.

For decades this once very attractive and, yes, promising young man who had ousted King Idris has kept the world in thrall surviving because one of the less quixotic policies he adopted, namely keeping Islamic fundamentalism in Libya firmly under control, suited Europe and the US down to the ground. As I write, Muammar Gaddafi, holed up somewhere in Tripoli, has delivered yet another crazed and impassioned speech stating that Al Qaeda is behind the revolt. One can only guess what he is trying to achieve by that! Would anyone buy such preposterousness at this stage?

So for decades the poor Libyans have had to put up with this man and we in Malta have had to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear and establish some sort of working relationship with him. Maltese businessmen have for many years bravely set up business with Libyan concerns wherein, as we have seen for ourselves, the element of risk is far higher than anywhere else. The returns though were as high as the risks. If they were not nobody in their right mind would go for it, would they? Only a few months ago when Switzerland had the temerity to prosecute one of the Colonel’s offspring for conduct unbecoming suddenly the madman pounced on all the foreigners working in Libya and did not allow them to leave.

We Maltese have a rather graphic description about a person who has never worn a pair of trousers which the editor will never countenance my repeating in this newspaper and, yet, this is precisely what happened to Colonel Gaddafi over the years. Power corrupted him completely and utterly. Dom Mintoff, when Premier, established a friendship, which, for most of us was too close for comfort. We have never quite found out what made Mr Mintoff and the Colonel the blood buddies they gave the impression of being. We may find out if and when Mr Mintoff publishes his autobiography or someone takes it upon himself or herself to do so.

During the Socialist years, when Mr Mintoff dominated the Malta Labour Party, as it then was our closeness to Libya, a country that was routinely shunned and feared by Europe and the US, so much so that Tripoli was bombed by the US in 1986 and the jets flew over our airspace regardless, was a cause of great consternation. Since the gradual waning of Mintoffian power since 1998, our relationship with the Colonel has been balanced on a flimsy tightrope. The working relationship established between the Cavaliere and the Colonel about the illegal immigrants plus the state of the world since 9/11 has somewhat softened the antipathy in which the Colonel was held.

We have many a time of late found ourselves between a rock and a hard place as Italy and Libya treated us as if we did not exist and were quite obviously in cahoots over our inherited territorial waters. What I found galling was that nobody within or without the EU lifted a finger. That is why I have been advocating rejoining Nato. Neutrality is only worth the money one is prepared to pay for it which, in Malta’s case, is laughable. Countries like Libya and Italy, irrespective of who leads them, will not, when push comes to shove, be impressed by our constitutional status. As may be seen, warships have been flitting in and out of the Grand Harbour for decades. In uncertain times like this we have too much to lose by not rejoining Nato. By not doing so we are acting just like the frog in the Aesop fable of the cow and the said frog.

By the time this article appears anything can happen. The writing on the wall indicates it is curtains for the Colonel and his coterie. However, who will be filling the vacuum? That is a question of paramount importance to us in Malta. One could almost be tempted into saying it would be better to deal with the devil you know… but then anything and anyone must be better than a man who called his own people cockroaches!

kzt@onvol.net