Around 40 Libyans marched in Valletta yesterday, calling on Malta and governments worldwide to recognise Libya’s National Transitional Council as the country’s legitimate government.
The high-spirited demonstrators, including a handful of women and children, carried rebel flags and placards as they made derogatory chants about Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, calling him a donkey and warning him he was playing with fire.
“It is time for the Maltese government to recognise the council so that relations between our countries will be friendly when Gaddafi goes,” demonstrator Nabil Al-Fetrey told The Sunday Times.
One of the banners carried by demonstrators read: ‘Malta thanks for the support, what remains is recognition’.
Malta has so far refused to formally recognise the council, preferring to adopt a wait-and-see policy dependent on territorial control, Malta’s national interest and recognition by other EU countries.
Libyans in exile held demonstrations on the same theme around the world yesterday.
The protests happened on the day the US stopped short of formally recognising the council as Libya’s legitimate government, following a first visit to the White House by a senior member of the rebel council.
The US and the UK are yet to formally recognise the council, in contrast with France, Italy and Qatar.
Placards at yesterday’s protest in Valletta bore slogans praising Nato support for the anti-Gaddafi rebels and criticising countries such as Russia, China and India for not supporting them.
“China and Russia are only interested in money; they don’t care about the lives of the people,” said Mr Al-Fetrey, a long-term resident in Malta from Benghazi, the interim capital of Libya’s rebel-held territory.
Asked whether he wants Nato jets to target Col. Gaddafi personally, following bombings of his compound last week, Mr Al-Fetrey said: “We just want him to go before more people die. We don’t care how that happens. We’re only concerned about the ordinary Libyans being killed.”
Mr Al-Fetrey added that all Libyans were united in wanting Col. Gaddafi to go and it was only a matter of time before it happened.