That was a deeply unsatisfying debate held in Parliament on Friday, its last gasp before it closes shop and moves out of The Palace and before it rose for the Summer Recess.
And the most unsatisfying contributions came from the party which originally asked to hold the debate – the Nationalist Party. The speakers on this side were uniformly weak, but the weakest was party leader Simon Busuttil who spent his time comparing this government’s response (weak) to that under Gonzi (true), complaining that the government is not consulting with the Opposition (true) and focusing on getting the Maltese out.
On the government side, Prime Minister Muscat did not speak (he had spoken earlier about the Maltese oil worker who was abducted) while Foreign Minister George Vella did widen the focus of his remarks but only, in my opinion, to do exactly what he was warning the country not to do – exacerbate tension by mentioning that ISIS may already be in Libya.
The problem of Libya is far more than the fate of this one man, though this, of course, is of concern. Or of getting the Maltese out. Or of getting the foreign nationals out as was done during the uprising against Gaddafi.
Libya today is in a far worse shape. Today, it stands a real chance of becoming a failed country, like Somalia, like Chad, like Congo. There is no government in Libya today, no real government, that is. There is a so-called government but its authority is ineffective. In the past hours, the Prime Minister himself was not allowed to fly out of Mitiga, and he was not about to abscond but was on his way to a meeting in another part of Libya.
The so-called government goes through the motions but it is unable to enforce its decisions. The real power is in the hands of the armed gangs who come together and break apart in a constantly changing kaleidoscope of shifting alliances.
There is no longer an army, nor a credible police force. Gaddafi opened the weapons stores and gave arms to anybody and everybody and the weapons have not been retrieved.
The country is split not just geographically between east and west, nor just by tribal alliance, but town against town, Misrata against Sirte. There is reason for this, there are reasons for everything. The east was neglected under Gaddafi whose worst persecutions were carried out there. Sirte was his favourite so it was severely battered. And as for Misrata, it only kept going against tremendous odds thanks to help it received from Malta.
There was tremendous optimism after Gaddafi was killed, but this has now petered out. It was thought that after the disruption of the war years, oil production would pick up, but it has not – it is at an all-time low.
There has been, indeed, a tremendous upsurge in consumer goods, with shops and shopping malls opening up everywhere and previously unobtainable goods now available with no cut given to a Gaddafi henchman.
But now all the meagre progress that had been registered has been reversed. They have held elections after elections, and a new parliament has just been elected, but who cares? At one point there were two concurrent prime ministers, like the popes of old.
The fighting around the international airport has put paid to any residual hope that Libya can get its act together. Planes have been destroyed, the airport is unusable, and the air traffic controllers, who were fiercely attacked, refuse to go back.
Some intrepid airlines and crews are using Mitiga, which is just a runway on the shore’s edge but this is a very temporary expedient.
There is lawlessness on the streets and petrol shortage too after the fuel deposits near the airport were targeted. Only those with an impelling reason to get out or to come in do so at an extreme price, many times including travelling by car on the long and dangerous route to Tunisia. Otherwise, there is no exit.
It is in these circumstances, which can get worse, that the dangers for Malta lie. The parliamentary debate on Friday dwelt mainly on one danger – the threat of more asylum seekers coming to Malta. This is true, but there are other dangers.
What about, for instance, Malta becoming a safe haven for Libyans of all hues? In a way, it has already become so. There are a number of former Gaddafi henchmen around in Malta who scampered here while the fighting was going on, or even earlier. But there could be far more, given that Libyans have always looked on Malta as a very friendly country, almost an extension of Libya over the sea. It could be that the future will see an inundation of Libyans fleeing the mayhem back home. After all, we have had a prime minister who was just kicked out and his deputy coming over and staying for weeks.
What are the chances of these self-exiled Libyans re-creating their fights, their feuds, their blood-vengeance here?
Apart from the personal feuds or acts of vengeance, there is more to be considered. Minister Vella alluded to this but almost as an aside. The experience of other failed states is that in such circumstances fundamentalism triumphs. This has been the experience, for instance, of Somalia with infiltrations by al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations, including the latest development, ISIS. Malta is not normally thought of as forming part of the Caliphate but it did form part of one, many hundreds of years ago.
Beyond that, in some people’s minds, the prevailing concern is what happens now to Maltese investments in Libya. Someone I heard about was more concerned about this and the possibility of all Maltese in a concern leaving all at once and leaving everything in the dicey hands of the Libyans, than about anything else.
I repeat, this is no re-run of the Gaddafi uprising. This is far worse and carries heavier implications. Our proximity to Libya, ‘Malta hanina hobza w sardina’ stood us well in the times of the dictator. But will it preserve us from a far worse fate in the possible future?
We are not paying enough attention paid to what is happening in Libya, save to become angry when more asylum seekers come here. Unfortunately, too, there have been a number of Maltese enterprises who typically have sided with the tyrant and perhaps owe their so far profitable venture to him and his acolytes. There are only a few Maltese, and fewer Maltese companies who enjoy a good standing with the Libyan people.
There seem to me some imperative points to take action upon, if possible immediately:
• Beef up security and be aware of the possible dangers to Maltese security and sovereignty
• Vet even more thoroughly those who come to our shores for, as has been pointed out many times in the past, they could include anything; there may be sleepers among them, as happened in other countries.
• Forget IIP in these circumstances and scrutinize in minute detail any Libyans who want to transfer huge sums of money here.
• Be aware that past alliances, even with key Maltese, may have survived underground.
• Be very careful which alliances are struck and by whom. Some alliances on a financial level may turn out to be very dangerous on any other level.
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