Malta consolidates ties with new Libya as Gonzi hosts Jalil and Jibril at Castille

UPDATE 2 | Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) has assured Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi that Malta will have a distinguished role in the rebuilding of a new Libya.

18 September 2011, 12:00am
by Karl Stagno-Navarra

1 min read

During an unexpected visit to Malta this evening and a meeting at Castille, NTC Chairman Moustafa Jalil and Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril met with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, just hours after he had bid farewell to two Libyan air force pilots who had been granted asylum in Malta after defecting with their Mirage jets last February.

Senior government sources have told MaltaToday that the NTC has assured Malta of a role in the rebuilding of a new Libya.

This was later confirmed by Moustafa' Jalil during a press conference at the end of the talks. He said that Malta will have a 'distinguished' role in the rebuilding of new Libya.

He thanked the government and the people of Malta for their dedication to the cause of the Libyan people during the revolution.

"You have courageously served as a life-line to the people of Libya during their most difficult hour, you supplied them with humanitarian aid, you assisted our brave pilots who defected to Malta and are also treating injured civilians in your hospitals," he said.

While the Maltese embassy in Tripoli has reopened this week and has started processing visas for Libyans to travel into Europe, a business delegation led by finance minister Tonio Fenech is expected to travel to Benghazi in the coming days.

More from Karl Stagno-Navarra

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I hope these guys were not fleeing Tripoli after Jibril failed to announce the new cabinet (Executive Committee) which remains unrepresentative of all the political spirits in new Libya.Jibril's tenure seems quite vulnerable and one has to see whether he will survive the sniping from the Islamists who do not want to be led by someone who served under Gaddafi. Asides from physical reconstruction, Libya is in desperate need of political reconstruction as Gaddafi has obliterated all political institutions and civil society. Malta should do its part in this and perhaps the Ta' Giorni insitute should be turned into a training-ground for Libya's new cadres who would be exposed to the democratic values that we embrace. The new Libya needs to turn its back to the past and respect human rights at all times : the omens are mixed and the rebels are also being accused of human rights abuses, especially in respect of black African migrants. By the way, the caption to the picture is mistaken ; Jalil is to the left of Gonzi whereas Jibril is to the right. j. Ellis.