Malta to open office in Benghazi - Libyan embassy will not be closed
Foreign Minister Tonio Borg.
Malta is to open a liaison office in Benghazi, Foreign Minister Tonio Borg announced today.
The announcement came following the statement by the Maltese government yesterday that it considered the Benghazi-based Libyan Transitional National Council as the "sole legitimate interlocutor of the Libyan people", making Malta the third EU country to officially sever contact with Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
Addressing the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, Dr Borg also said that this morning a Maltese government delegation left for Benghazi for talks with officials of the council. The delegation is headed by Ambassador Victor Camilleri as special envoy.
The delegation will also meet EU officials in Benghazi in order to prepare for the setting up of the Maltese liaison office.
In a presentation to the committee about the situation in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the minister said Col Gaddafi was increasingly isolated, and atrocities in the country had increased.
He noted that the EU and a number of countries had opened liaison offices in Benghazi.
Dr Borg said Malta had still not formally recognised the National Council as the government of Libya, but the legitimate interlocutor of the Libyan people.
Therefore, the Libyan embassy in Malta will not be closed down.
PROTEST OVER MIGRANTS
Dr Borg said that he had not met the Libyan ambassador to Malta for some time.
However, he said, when the influx of migrants from Libya increased, he met the ambassador and told that that this "was not on" and action was needed to stop the exodus from Libya.
The minister insisted that Malta would not participate in military action against the Libyan people but was offering its services for humanitarian purposes, including the provision of hospital services. Qatar had offered to help in this regard while Australia had said that it wished to offer humanitarian aid to Libya through Malta. The United Nations, he said, was using Malta as a stopover of its flights to Benghazi. The flight was also used by the Maltese delegation this morning.
With regard to Tunisia, he announced that the Tunisian Foreign Minister would be visiting Malta in the middle of this month to head talks by a Malta-Tunisia mixed commission which would discuss a wide range of bilateral issues.
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Richard Vella
Jun 2nd 2011, 15:59
Well done, The Malta decision to recognise the Benghazi based Council has already reached the normal people in Benghazi and have received this news with a lot of jubilation and gratitude towards the Maltese people.
The office in Benghazi will surely help to iron out the difficulties one is facinf to get a visa issued.
Christian Sciberras
Jun 2nd 2011, 15:30
To the Maltese Government:
And about time! No wonder S&R is sent after those in need or long drowned. "Nothing personal, we just can't help it!"
Raymond Sammut
Jun 2nd 2011, 15:14
Just for the record, in relation to the diplomatic step just taken by Malta, a report has been compiled presently by a commission that had been appointed by the UN. This report will now be studied in detail by the Human Rights Council next month.
Thus far, only a small number of events potentially amount to "war crime"; said to have been committed by Libyan insurgents. On the other hand, a large number of events have been identified and which amount to both "war crime" and "crime against humanity"; said to have been committed by the Tripoli government forces. The results of the UN investigation can be expected to be announced in due course, and in my view, these would surely be of interest to the Maltese foreign minister.
Warmer Libri
Jun 2nd 2011, 14:34
To day UN report showed evidence that these rebels are already did war crimes! SO SUCH people , who did elect them? did NATO do democratic elections for them? Did they put and impose themselves? did all the libyan people elect them? where is the democracy in this situation? did really these rebels deserve to be recognized? on what basis???? alot of questions and no even one reliable answer. These rebels have no obvious displines at all! a lot of lies! did they deserve to be recognized??????????????????????? i think every body has to very careful before any step. Alot of Maltese have worked in Libya during Gadaffi regime and most if not all speak highly about the deal of the authorities with them, the Maltese neutrality strengthen their reliability.
Christian Sciberras
Jun 2nd 2011, 15:29
Sir, you are clueless.
If Gaddafi literrally worked using foreign businesses, why on Earth would he show them the "scum" in his country?
When an American talks about New York to you, how much does he describe the squalid and inhabitable situation in certain parts of New York?
Raymond Sammut
Jun 2nd 2011, 13:49
This is a good step taken by Malta, and should have come much earlier. Following formal talks with members of the TNC, recognition should also follow naturally in a timely manner. Malta, the nearest EU neighbor, can do much more to help --both now and into the future. For example, Malta can surely assist with helping some of the many who are wounded, and in the long term, also with rehabilitation. There are a host of areas in which Libya will need Malta, such as English education for Libyan children and organizing free and fair elections. Malta should start at the earliest and be at the forefront. I think, in fact, that Malta --historically-- has a moral obligation.
Mr Charles Muscat
Jun 2nd 2011, 13:23
It really takes some nerves.
Please choose the reason of your report below: