As southern Europe continues to plea for assistance in the face of a threat of mass migration from North African shores, Europol this week raised the alarm that terrorists may be seeking entry into Europe by blending themselves in with the masses of people legitimately fleeing the troubled, war-torn region.

And here we are not speaking of the hundreds of thousands of sub-Saharan Africans that have been stuck in Libya en route to Europe and who are now desperately trying to flee the violence. We are speaking of the North Africans themselves fleeing the violence and of North African terrorists being concealed within their ranks.

Over the last six months the United States, Canada, Britain and Japan have warned that al-Qaeda has further intentions against Europe. While those warnings, which had begun back in October, had focussed on threats emanating specifically from Pakistan, the international intelligence community, and Europol itself, is placing increased scrutiny on the movements of the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group – a group operating in Malta’s backyard and one that could possibly seek to use Malta as a transit point into Europe.

Two French counter-terrorism officials recently described the AQIM is the leading threat to French national security. As far back as 2008, Malta’s National Security Service noted how AQIM, “Could have serious implications for the Mediterranean and the European Union as the organisation is taking advantage of the extensive network of operatives that could be exported to the European continent.”

In the same year the US State Department had warned of Malta’s potential of serving as a staging post for would-be terrorists seeking clandestine entry into Europe, given the country’s high influx of undocumented irregular migrants, its geographic location between North Africa and Europe and its status as an EU member.

But that was then and this is now. And now the threat of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing a Libyan civil war – Libyans and sub-Saharan Africans alike – has upped the ante considerably should the worst case migratory scenarios being forecast come to fruition.

But in addition to the threat of terrorists gaining clandestine entry into Europe, should the revolts and usurping of North African dictators not yield the desired results more powerful terrorist groups could emerge in the uprisings’ wakes as a result in increased radicalisation and an accompanying increased support for terrorist organisations.

But so far groups such as AQIM have played mere observer roles in the revolutions sweeping across the region. Such terrorist organisations have espoused violence, bombings and assassinations as the only means of removing the region’s entrenched dictators. But over the last four months they have witnessed peaceful protests doing the job far more effectively.

In this respect, much is up in the air and so much will hinge on coming democratic reforms in the affected countries of the Maghreb and on the resolution of the situation in Libya.

It is beyond argumentation that Europe and Malta must do absolutely all they can to assist and accommodate the unfortunates fleeing Libya but should the today’s trickle become a tidal wave, Europe and Malta will also need to watch out for the wolves among the sheep.