The Home Affairs Ministry did not want to explain why certain sections of the Armed Forces of Malta had their working shifts changed for the army to have more manpower on the ground in the wake of reports about terror threats against the island.

Answering questions submitted by The Malta Independent, the ministry said it had nothing more to add to what had already been stated. “It is a normal practice within AFM to review its internal procedures from time to time, according to the exigencies of the service,” the ministry said tersely.

Last week, Minister Carmelo Abela denied that Malta was facing any imminent terror threat in the wake of reports in the international media that the Islamic State was planning missile launches against Malta, Italy and Spain from North African countries. This came after the Maltese-owned Corinthia Hotel in Libya was attacked by terrorists two weeks ago, an attack that left 14 people dead. It also came in the week that two hostages – a Jordanian pilot and a Japanese journalist – were killed by Islamic State.

But, in spite of the minister’s reassurances, the Armed Forces of Malta was on high alert for two days just after the Corinthia attack, and has taken steps to increase manpower. Certain sections of the army had their working shifts changed from a system of day-night-rest-off to one of day-night-rest, which means that the officers and soldiers in these sections are working longer hours.

The Malta Independent asked the ministry why such a decision was taken and whether this was linked with the terror threat reports. We asked which sections of the army had been affected, whether this was a temporary measure and, if yes, if a specific period of time had been determined. We asked whether the officers and soldiers involved were being given time-off-in-lieu or being paid overtime.

 

The answer given by the ministry was the short sentence given above.