The AFM is ready to participate in the EU's military humanitarian operation in Libya, called EUFOR Libya. and could do so in association with the Civil Protection Department, Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said this afternoon. This, he said, would be a purely humanitarian operation using military assets.
He was replying to questions on Libya during a meeting of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee.
Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil asked whether the various forces off the Libyan coast could divert migrants’ boats towards Benghazi.
He argued that migrants leaving the Libyan coast should be diverted to Benghazi since that was free Libya and the migrants’ lives, therefore, would not be endangered.
In his remarks, Dr Busuttil also praised the government for having assisted French aircraft which declared an emergency and landed in Malta after having technical problems, saying that Malta was respecting its international obligations.
During the meeting, Labour MP George Vella said the Opposition agreed with the government decision not to be involved in military operations but to assist in humanitarian missions.
Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said the number of emergency landings by French aircraft in Malta was very small compared to the thousands of sorties over Libya. Talks had been held with the French ambassador, who had conveyed the message that Malta did not want to be used as a base.
However, Dr Borg said, these were purely emergency landings. Indeed, one aircraft actually stopped on the runway because it was so short of fuel.
Regarding the migrants, Dr Borg said he had protested to the Libyan ambassador following the start of the migrants’ influx from Libya, saying this ‘was not on’ and departures should be stopped.
The minister said most of the boats leaving Libya carried migrants from sub-saharan Africa and not Libyan,s and they wanted to go to Europe, not Benghazi. The situation could change if the boats started carrying more Libyans fleeing their country for political reasons.
Malta was seeking to repatriate as many migrants as possible but the process was slow and cumbersome.
Asked why Malta had not formally recognised the Libyan Transitional Council, Dr Borg said that depended on a number of issues including economic and political considerations and matters of territory. An analysis was underway to consider when it was proper to grant recognition.
Replying to questions by Dr Vella, the minister said a vacant building might be used as a temporary hospital for the provision of humanitarian help to injured Libyans. The government of Qatar was interested in helping in this sense. In such cases, patients would be sent back to Libya once they recovered.
On military humanitarian operations in Libya, Dr Borg said the AFM had agreed to participate in this operation (EUFOR Libya) in conjunction with the Civil Protection Department.