No request has yet been made to use Malta’s airport as a temporary military base to launch attacks against the Gaddafi regime, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi insisted yesterday.
Speaking on a discussion programme on Radio 101, Dr Gonzi urged critics to realise the logistical implications and limitations should Malta decide to host war planes.
The government has faced criticism from some quarters for not doing enough to help the coalition forces quell the Libyan regime’s attacks on rebels.
But Dr Gonzi said the two armed Libyan fighter jets which had defected to Malta were security concerns at an international airport which did not cater for such circumstances.
“We need to be practical. Where do you store bombs? How do you make sure you don’t expose passengers to risk? We don’t have the facilities. There are insurance issues we need to take into consideration,” he said.
While pointing out that the country’s security would always remain the biggest priority, he reiterated that nearby Sicily was hosting military airports.
Yet, despite Malta’s neutrality, Dr Gonzi said Malta could not remain neutral in the face of wrongdoing and this was why he was one of the first European prime ministers to condemn Col. Gaddafi’s actions.
Meanwhile, the government said yesterday that despite not hosting any military facilities, Malta could still offer its resources for humanitarian missions carried out by military forces.
“In this context, all requests received for the use of the airport by military planes on humanitarian missions have been met and will continue to be supported.”
Replying to questions from The Sunday Times, a government spokesman refused to go into details of Malta’s participation in the military action but said the government was committed to the resolution’s “thorough implementation”.
He said Malta was also cooperating fully with the enforcement of the arms embargo at sea.
“Such operations are ongoing and have been intensified because of the Libyan crisis,” the spokesman said, stopping short of specifying whether the government would allow ships involved in the arms embargo to berth in Malta for shelter.
The spokesman said before the sanctions were in place, Malta refused repeated requests from the Libyan government to return two military jets whose pilots defected to Malta.
“Notwithstanding the danger involved in such a decision, the Maltese government took this decision because it was the right thing to do.”
The Prime Minister has from day one ruled out turning Malta into a military base but said aircraft would be allowed to pass through Malta’s airspace.
The vast majority of military planes involved in the Libya operation are using Malta’s airspace, with sources saying refuelling is also taking place in the sky over Malta.
The spokesman did not say whether any requests to land have been made over the past weeks and whether any of them were entertained and if Malta was asked to provide radar facilities.
Speaking yesterday, Dr Gonzi said he was still baffled by the Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Al Bagdadi’s claim last week that a ceasefire was in force.
“I told him that while he was insisting that a ceasefire was effective, I had my television on and I was seeing tanks rolling through the villages...”
Dr Gonzi also accused Col. Gaddafi of being opportunistic by using the Japan tsunami disaster to bulldoze through the rebel strongholds for three days – as the world media looked the other way.