Maltese people living or working in Benghazi were warned to be cautious after UK nationals there were yesterday asked, by their government, to evacuate the Libyan city following a “specific threat to Westerners”.
German and Dutch nationals have also been issued with similar warnings by their governments.
“Of course the situation is worrying and requires monitoring. But the degree of alert as regards to Malta… is not different from what the situation has been over the past days,” Foreign Affairs Minister Francis Zammit Dimech told The Times.
“At this stage we are advising caution and advising people who are not there and are planning to travel there to see whether it’s absolutely necessary,” he said, adding the ministry was aware of some 10 Maltese people in Benghazi.
Dr Zammit Dimech said he was in constant contact with the Maltese ambassador in Tripoli and the consul in Benghazi and they were monitoring the situation.
He added that it was widely believed that the threat to Westerners was a repercussion of the recent French military intervention in Mali.
Maltese businessmen who work in Libya told The Times they were worried that the situation might degenerate and lead to a repetition of the eight-month crisis that started in February 2011 and ended with the fall and death of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
One man, whose business is based in Tripoli, spent the day monitoring the situation yesterday.
“It seems that the threat is limited to Benghazi at the moment but I’m very concerned it might spread,” he said, adding his colleagues in Tripoli had told him the situation there was still calm.
Another businessman, who regularly travels to Benghazi, said the situation there had been deteriorating and violence was visible on the streets.
“People are afraid… I’m concerned it might degenerate further and spread to Tripoli where, although it is still calm, the fear is starting to be felt,” he said.
To be on the safe side, Air Malta yesterday cancelled flights to and from Benghazi. The next scheduled flight, on Tuesday, was not cancelled and the airline will review the situation on an ongoing basis.
The airline took the decision in the interest of the “safety and security of its staff and customers”, after hearing that the UK Foreign Office told British nationals they should leave Benghazi immediately “in response to a specific threat to Westerners”.
The Foreign Office did not comment further on the nature of the threat.
British authorities have been advising against travel to Benghazi and most parts of Libya since September, when US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed during an attack on their consulate.
Since the attack Britain has not had a diplomatic presence in Benghazi – Libya’s second largest city and the stronghold of the National Transitional Council, the rebel group that brought down Gaddafi.
In its updated travel advice, the Foreign Office said that after the recent French military intervention in Mali, there was the possibility of retaliatory attacks against Western interests in the region.
There was also the threat of kidnapping in Libya, BBC News reported.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified in hearings on Capitol Hill, during which she was questioned about the attack on the US consulate and said al-Qaeda was on the rise in the region.
Last week, in neighbouring Algeria, militants took over a gas plant, taking hundreds hostage, possibly in revenge for events in Mali, where the French military have taken action against Islamist extremists.