As Libya stepped up its actions against travellers from Schengen area countries, even blocking passengers having work and residence permits in retaliation to Switzerland's visa blacklist of Libyan nationals, Muammar Gaddafi yesterday called for a jihad or armed struggle against the country.
"Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against (the Prophet) Mohammad, God and the Koran," Col Gaddafi said during a meeting in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi to mark the Prophet's birthday.
"Let us fight against Switzerland, Zionism and foreign aggression," said the Libyan leader, adding that "this is not terrorism", in contrast with the work of al Qaeda, which he called a "kind of crime and a psychological disease".
"There is a big difference between terrorism and jihad, which is a right to armed struggle," he said.
Col Gaddafi accused Switzerland of being an "infidel, obscene state which is destroying mosques", in reference to a Swiss referendum verdict barring the construction of minarets.
He called for a "jihad against it with all means".
On Wednesday, 10 passengers, eight Maltese and two Germans, on an Air Malta flight to Tripoli were turned away, according to Air Malta. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry confirmed that, contrary to the policy that had been adopted until then, Libya returned even those passengers in possession of work and residence permits.
Another two Maltese nationals were turned back yesterday.
Meanwhile, the new Swiss Ambassador to Malta, Bernardino Regazzoni, defended his country's decision to blacklist 186 Libyan nationals and said the action was motivated by a threat to national security.
Mr Regazzoni was talking to The Times after he presented his diplomatic credentials to President George Abela yesterday.
The Swiss decision had led to retaliation by Libya, which blocked the visas of all travellers from Schengen area countries.
Malta had been among the countries that criticised the Swiss decision and questioned its legality in terms of Schengen rules.
Switzerland is part of Schengen and its actions mean that the 186 Libyans cannot travel in any of the Schengen area countries, including Malta.
"The discussion over our position and how it fits into Schengen law is ongoing. We contend that it is lawful. When the blacklist of Libyan officials was issued, we justified it on the basis of national security. At the time the list was drawn up, two Swiss nationals were under arrest in Libya and for 52 days their whereabouts were unknown. This was a threat to our security," the ambassador said.
When asked whether the blacklist would be removed following recent developments, including the release of one of the Swiss nationals, the ambassador said he was not in a position to comment.
There seems to be no resolution in sight of the diplomatic spat between both countries, which has dragged other European countries into the dispute.
Malta, Italy and France, which have important trade and business ties with Libya, have asked the Swiss government to withdraw the blacklist but their position has found few ears among other EU member states, government sources said yesterday.
Speaking to his European counterparts in Brussels, yesterday, Minister for Justice and Internal Affairs, Carm Mifsud Bonnici stressed that a solution over this impasse should be found as soon as possible. He expressed concern over what he called the wrong application of Schengen rules.
Malta will keep its door open to assist in finding an early solution to this issue that will be satisfactory to both sides, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.
The government has refused to act against Libya by blocking visas to Libyan nationals with sources insisting it would only make things worse.
"If Malta blocks Libyans from coming here, Maltese businessmen trading in Libya will suffer and it will not help the situation," the sources said.
Between 2004 and 2008, Malta exported €341 million worth of goods and services to Libya.
Reporting on Benghazi meeting by Reuters.