There are few signs that in the past weeks, some significant improvement occurred in the Libyan crisis. The government that the UN and ”Western” powers would like to see established has hardly strengthened its grip on state authority, despite the boosts they gave it.
The militias created as the Ghaddafi regime was collapsing still seem to be on top.
The distance between the east and west of the country look like it’s constantly widening.
Daesh has maintained a strong territorial and military presence.
Unbridled anarchy remains everywhere the real peril.
Naturally we consider all these developments through our perspective – how will they impact on the immigration currents coming from Africa and the Middle East? or the labour and business ties between Malta and Libya?
We cannot however gloss over how the Libyans, as a people, are being affected. For years now, they have been experiencing martyrdom. They are neighbours, kindly and friends of ours. Their pain is our sorrow.
***
Brexit
Whether one prefers the UK to remain in the EU or to leave, the ongoing referendum campaign in that country over the choice to be made will continue to capture headlines.
Mostly I meet people, British and others, who would like to see the UK remain a member of the Union.
Among them there are those who feel discouraged: they consider that the remain camp lacks momentum; those who are confident of victory because a majority of businessmen and trade unionists are in favour of membership; those who are on tenterhooks, as they believe that the two sides are level pegging; those who feel that if eventually, the UK decides to leave, there could still be a benefit to follow for ”Europe” since it would then become a more coherent union – and those who believe the opposite, since other countries would be tempted to follow the UK example.
***
Brussels Airport
This week the departures hall of Brussels airport should reopen. So it has been said. I hope this happens and that as a result, there will be some reduction in the time wasted when passing though all the controls that have been put in place following the terrorist attack on the facility.
As of now, passengers departing from Zaventem, as the airport is called, have to go through five successive queues. The first one is to let a soldier examine your flight ticket or boarding pass, along with your passport. The second is to get your luggage as well as yourself though an electronic control. The third takes place at the airline check in counter. At the fourth queue, they control that you do indeed have a boarding pass. Then you go up three steep flights of stairs and again having queued, proceed through the final electronic control for yourself and luggage.
The long trail of people proceeds through garages, open corridors and big structures that resemble the Nissan huts left behind them by the British military at Ta’ Qali. If you manage to emerge from all these checks and controls in under two hours, consider yourself lucky.