The government refused a request put forward by the Partit Demokratiku to make an urgent ministerial statement about reported meetings between Neville Gafa, an official of the office of the Prime Minister, and Haithem Tajouri, the commander of the Libyan militia Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, PD leader Godfrey Farrugia requested a statement from Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Foreign Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela, saying that a report by the United Nations had indicated that the activities of the Libyan militia groups, including the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade, had intensified and that such groups were a setback to the setting up of democracy in Libya.

The request was protested by the government side of the House, with Government Whip Byron Camilleri putting forward a point of order and saying that Farrugia had no right to make such a statement.  Deputy Speaker of the House Claudette Buttigieg accepted Farrugia’s request, however the request was not accepted by the government on the basis that no response was given to Farrugia’s request.

In a statement issued following these events in Parliament, the PD said that the meeting between Gafa and Tajouri whose militia, they explained, has ties with detention centres, extortion, and irregular immigration “raises serious doubts about the consistency, transparency, and integrity of Malta’s political stance about the stability and future of Libya”.

It is necessary, the PD said, that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Affairs ministry answer several questions as to the nature of such meetings, such as whether they were informed about Gafa’s meetings and whether they agree that an official of the government should meet with Libyan militias and, if they disagree, what action would be taken against Gafa.

 

Photo above taken during Gafa's latest visit to Libya