Outgoing Tunisian Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa has said that the biggest threat that his coutrny faces is from the chaos in neighbouring Libya.

Tunisia has had a few painful spasms since dictator Ben Ali was overthrown, but the country has been a beacon of hope in the ever failing Arab Spring revolutions. He describes the militia issue as a state of war and he also talks of the danger of infiltration by terrorists.

Tunisia shares a porous land border with Libya. But we must also remember that Libya is only a stone's throw away from Malta. There are regular air connections and connections by sea and, as already emphasised in exclusive interview with this newspaper, the Foreign Minister said that the increase of their presence here is being felt and seen. This, he said, was largely due to the fact that people were trying to come to Malta to escape the strife in Libya until it hopefully settles down.

The Foreign Minister has also expressed worry at the fact that there is an Islamic State presence in Libya. We now have a situation where the legally recognised Tobruk Government has appointed an embassy in Ta'Xbiex, while a Tripoli faction has set up office in Attard, the traditional seat of the Libyan embassy in Malta.

The government of Malta has said that it will not interfere in internal Libyan affairs, but what is the situation we are faced with?  Do we have one official embassy and one de facto embassy? Do we have two embassies that are serving different governments? Which one is processing visas?

Malta is in line with the EU and the UN's position in recognizing the Tobruk government - but it begs the question, what paperwork is the government of Malta accepting? Which is through which official government business is being conducted with?

Whether we like it or not, we do have an internal power struggle in Libya unfolding on our doorstep. While we call on the government to make things clear, the EU also has a role to play in this. The UN has sent an envoy to bring both sides together to try and form a unity government, but the EU has remained silent for months. The situation is fluid in Libya and while there are clashes between rival factions, other parts of the country have had a pretty normal situation in day to day life. Differences must finally be put aside and the militias must disarm, if Libya is to have peace. If the militias continue to grow in number and certain ideologies continue to propagate, we might be faced with the possibility of a second failed state in the Mediterranean. If IS can step into the vacuum that Libya is facing right now, the results would be unimaginable. It would destabilised peace and the economies of all countries in the Mediterranean basin.