Early this week, The Malta Independent reported that Foreign Minister George Vella was in Vienna for a meeting with other foreign ministers from the region to discuss the future of Libya. The meeting was also attended by the American Secretary of State, John Kerry.
During this meeting, it was reported that Minister Vella, and I quote, “underlined the importance for Prime Minister Sarraj to be reassured of the international community’s readiness to stand by Libya at such a delicate political juncture”. Such a reassurance from Vella came after he, together with the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, visited Tripoli for two hours and met Libyan Prime Minister Mr Fayez al-Sarraj, who recently took over as head of the new unity government supported by the UN. The meeting was held at a military base.
The Maltese delegation ended up visiting that part of Tripoli which our Maltese Government, till recently, was refusing to acknowledge. Our Government had been supporting the government constituted at Tobruk. Political stands change by the second not by the hour so the stakes changed and the Prime Minister seems to have sought to adjust to the situation.
Until recently, Libya had two Governments: a House of Representatives in Tobruk and a General National Council in Tripoli. The latter was known as the Tripoli Government. Each one had its own ‘army’. The UN wanted all factions in Libya, which were many, to become part of the newly UN appointed government, with its seat in Tripoli. Only those who signed the final agreement in December 2015 could take part in this newly UN appointed government. Up to now, Tobruk has refused to sign and recognise this new Government.
On the other hand, all the municipalities on both sides and the majority of the General National Council of Tripoli signed it. They did so not because they approved of a UN ‘imposed’ government on their country but because they saw this proposal as the lesser of two evils: refusing to sign would mean more wars, more confusion and chaos in Libya. The Tobruk faction appears to have died a natural death, as their House of Representatives' mandate ended last year. What is of particular interest for us in Malta is that this newly approved UN Government in Libya is now represented in Malta by the Libyan Embassy at Attard.
The situation is once again becoming chaotic, as the US does not seem inclined to support the Tripoli Government despite the fact that this appears to have the widest support of the people. Despite all discourse, the US does not seem to consider democracy beneficial to Libya. America’s discourse about freedom does not hold for the Arab world. In this part of the world, America prefers friendly dictators. They offer better security to the US and its NATO allies. At least, they are easy to negotiate with! A precedent already exists with Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia to mention just a few Arab dictatorships, which America supports whether for oil or other reasons. Basically the US prefers puppet dictators, who are kept in power by weapons.
America only starts speaking against dictators when, like the Syrian case, the Arab dictator is not their chosen puppet. In Libya, America wants to support one particular faction, since this faction is more than ready to pay back the Americans by selling off cheap oil. It now seems obvious to all that the US is supporting the military commander, Hafter. Hafter is the General who leads the army of the Tobruk faction and his recent declarations show that war in Libya is not over, even if another general is now in charge of the UN appointed Government.
What is not said about Hafter is that, for a number of years, he has lived together with his family in the US and only returned to Libya after the fall of the Gaddafi regime. Hafter says that he is the only guarantee against Isis, but when Isis people kill representatives of the people of the Tripoli Government, he does not move a finger to save them. His main objective is now very clear. He wants to wage war against the UN recognized Government of Tripoli.
The US strategy seems very simple. The US wants Hafter to become the new Gaddafi. This explains why Hafter can continue with his battle against the New Government, which has been appointed by the UN. He has already declared his intentions to retake Tripoli and other strategic areas, like the oil fields.This explains why the new Prime Minister of Libya is rightly asking the international community to allow him to arm.
In this scenario, the situation of the Maltese Government becomes extremely pertinent. It is now very clear, that there is a split between the line of policy that George Vella wants to adopt and the one that Castile wants to follow. I am forming an impression that Castile is more pro-America and pro-Hafter. Minister Vella is more for the UN backed government in Libya.
Unfortunately, the media failed to follow closely Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s visit to Libya, which had the full backing of the American Embassy but sources close to the Libyan Government say that it was on the verge of diplomatic collapse due to the way the Maltese Government handled this visit.
While it is true that the current situation in Libya is chaotic, the Maltese Foreign Office and Castile should be even more vigilant about the contacts that they use for their official visit to Libya. On my part, I am skeptic of those politicians who adopt the stand that the end justifies the means. This becomes even more dangerous when adopted by small countries like ours.
More importantly, both the Government and the Opposition should start reviewing Malta’s interest in this part of the Mediterranean rather than trying to please American politics.The greatest worry is that the Opposition appears to be totally absent. Its silence implies that it is afraid to offend the US, despite the fact that the current American administration despises the PN and is more than ready to support the Labour Party in its next election, as it clearly did in 2013. But to discuss all this requires another blog.
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