House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Francis Zammit Dimech told Parliament on Wednesday that Malta’s message to the nations in conflict was that a dictatorship should not substitute another.

He said that the importance of the Mediterranean to Malta was a state of life and peace was of paramount importance. It was of grave concern for all Maltese to see what was happening in neighbouring countries.

The initiative to commemorate Mediterranean Day had a great significance from this aspect and it was heartening that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean had declared that everything possible should be done to ensure peace and, through democratic means, the aspirations of people.

The Maltese were showing solidarity with the people of Libya and in expressing this solidarity they could not but mean the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule. It also condemned the atrocities committed by the Libyan leader against his own people.

Malta was clear in its response to Libya’s request to send observers to see that the ceasefire was in place: it was only the UN which could authorize such a mission. However, the fact was that it had to be a UN Security Council resolution to safeguard civilians from the might of the Libyan government forces’ attacks.

Dr Zammit Dimech said that one must now look ahead and see that the future was built on the values of justice in both regional and individual levels and the observance of human rights.