Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday reiterated his call for the United Nations to issue a mandate to authorize immediate and urgent action in Libya.
The Prime Minister says he has the backing of two fellow EU members, but did not name them. He also said that another willing partner is Italy, which has also issued its own calls for action to be taken in Libya now, before it is too late. Dr Muscat went on to say that there were other Middle Eastern nations that were willing to join a coalition for action.
Militants in Libya were attacked yesterday by Egypt – which is still suffering its own spasms of violence - in retaliation to the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by purported IS supporters. Libyan Air Force squadrons allied to the internationally recognised Tobruk government also struck Dernah, one of the first Libyan cities to fall to IS.
Perhaps the most encouraging thing about these developments is that the Tobruk government and the Tripoli faction (backed by Misuratan militia) seem to have realised that they have a bigger enemy than each other, and that is the Daesh. While there is still much work to do, it is clear that the two factions will have to unite if they are going to quell the rise of extremism in Libya.
The chilling video of the beheading shows the hallmarks of the high-end productions that are being broadcast from Syria and Iraq. It also seems to show that there is a foreign jihadi who is the mouthpiece of the unit in the region. The world cannot sit back and adopt a wait and see attitude. Equally, neither can Malta. We might be neutral, but although Islamic State calls itself a state, it is not. It is a hotchpotch of terror organisations that are uniting under an ideology. If Malta expects its neighbours to obtain a UN mandate for action to be taken, we will also have to be involved in one way or another. In that respect, the PM said that while Malta did not have much in the way of weaponry or equipment, it could be a logistical hub as well as a point of contact with the Libyan authorities.
Forget about missiles and threats. This is about barbarism just beyond our shores. The Prime Minister might be correct in stating that there is no specific terror threat to Malta, but he must also realise that the Islamic State has a clear goal, and that is to take over Europe through terror and infiltration. The only way that this can avoided is if this is nipped in the bud right now. Europe must wake from its slumber. Syria is only a stone’s throw away from Cyprus. Libya is only a stone’s throw away from Libya – and by default - Italy. When the Libyan people rose up against Muammar Gaddafi, the world responded. It is time to respond once more, the threat that we all face now is bigger than the one he ever posed.