Minister George Vella should be thanked for having taken the time, through E. St John, to reply to my blog about the current relations between our Government and Libya. I must also thank him for calling me a “leading exponent” of the Nationalist Party. I am neither offended nor will I consider this a political dig. 

However, as Minister Vella must have noted, I am not the sole person not convinced about the current state of Maltese diplomacy with Libya. MrIvan Grech Mintoff is even more sceptical. I trust that Dr Vella does not want to brand Mr Grech Mintoff’s comments as biased or pro-Nationalist. There is no need to remind Dr Vella that Mr Grech Mintoff is the nephew of the Labour Leader Dom Mintoff. He was always behind his uncle, even when Labour slammed Mintoff a traitor. 

In your reply, Minister, you rightly said that Malta does not take orders from any other foreign state. In this context, I would ask you whether it is true or not that some seven days before the visit of the Maltese delegation to Libya, the US Embassy asked you, Dr Vella, for a meeting?

Given that, in Malta, there are two Libyan Embassies, one in Balzan and the other in Ta’ Xbiex, it is pertinent to ask which of the two Embassies was contacted regarding the trip in question. It is a known fact that such trips are organized by the Foreign Office through contacts with its counterpart representative of the foreign state being visited. In this context, it would be interesting to know which Embassy (Balzan or Ta' Xbiex) issued the necessary diplomatic visas and which embassy was responsible for the logistics of this visit to Libya?

From the wording in your reply and the snide comment made about my reference to the Libyan Embassy in Balzan, am I right to conclude that this Libyan Embassy is not favourably seen by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

Since this official delegation included also our PM, could we know the names of all those forming part of this delegation? I have been given to understand that there were also foreigners forming part of this delegation. Were all the members of this delegation chosen by the Maltese Government or was there at least one person imposed on the Maltese delegation?

Given the current situation, where General Hafter is leading that faction of the army that remained loyal to Tobruk (something, you did not contradict), is it true that in the past three years, General Hafter has bought a property in Malta/Gozo?

Is it true that the Maltese delegation, which included the PM, had problems on arrival at Tripoli Airport because of the visas?

Is it possible to know whether the same individuals who entered Libya as part of the Maltese delegation, on leaving the country were joined by an additional passenger who did not form part of the original delegation?

Is it also true that, on its return journey, the Maltese delegation was left waiting in the plane for half an hour until some unidentified individual boarded the private plane before it was given clearance to take-off?

If all this is true, what was the interest of this third person to be part of the Maltese delegation?

While it is true that the current situation in Libya is chaotic, until it remains so, our Foreign Office should be even more vigilant about the contacts it uses locally to obtain its diplomatic visas to visit Libya.  These are issues of national importance and I raise the questions above in the interest of transparency, our security and the good of our country. History will tell whether I am speculating or not.