MI6 leaks reveal Malta’s role as launch pad

Leaks from British intelligence agency MI6, made public by the BBC earlier this month, suggest that Malta's role in Gaddafi's downfall may have extended further than providing humanitarian assistance and logistical support for civilian evacuations.

According to these reports, Malta also offered assistance in smuggling members of the British secret services onto Libyan territory in order to rendezvous with the National Transitional Council.

"The Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6, sought to step up communications with some of its contacts in the opposition," Newsnight's Mike Urban wrote on 19 January, referring to events which had taken place the previous year. "It was decided to send a pair of the service's people to a town not far from Benghazi to meet one of these Libyans.

"MI6, say people familiar with what happened, decided to avoid the Royal Navy frigate in Benghazi at the time, or any other obvious symbol of national power as the base for this meeting. Instead, they opted to be flown from Malta into Libya at night by a Chinook helicopter in order to meet local 'fixers' who would help them get to the meeting."

However, the mission appears to have backfired, and all members of the team flown into Libya were arrested and detained by the NTC, in what proved an embarrassment for Whitehall.

The incident was one of many that have since raised legal questions about UN Security Council Resolution 1973: the framework legislation which purportedly governed all military operations in Libya.

While authorising countries to use force "to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack", the resolution also specifically excluded the deployment of "a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory" to achieve this aim.

It is naturally debatable whether this 'diplomatic' operation would qualify as an 'occupational' force; but judging by its reception the rebels themselves clearly interpreted it as an act of military aggression.

Either way, Malta's involvement (albeit logistical) raises legal questions of its own, as the provisos of Constitutional neutrality are subordinate to the same UN Resolution that was apparently disregarded in this instance.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Maltese government officials have by and large ignored all questions regarding the incident. Foreign Minister Tonio Borg, who regularly gave press briefings detailing Malta's role in the civilian evacuations, merely directed this newspaper to the Defence Directorate, and refused to comment further.

Speaking for the Defence Directorate, OPM official Gordon Pisani said: "Throughout the crisis in Libya, Malta acted in accordance with the United Nations Resolutions in addition to the role of a humanitarian hub"... overlooking the fact that the question itself hinged precisely on the same UN Resolution he invoked to ignore it.

Contacted separately, shadow foreign minister George Vella admitted that while he had his personal reservations about the war and its aftermath, Malta's involvement in such operations was more or less "inevitable".

He also said that the UN Resolution had been "stretched like a stick of chewing gum" to allow for all manner of involvement.

"There can be little doubt that there was a lot that happened that went beyond the stipulations of the UN resolution. I am not convinced that of all the emergency landings by allied military aircraft in Malta last year were in fact technical emergencies, as claimed. I accept that a few of them would have been, but certainly not all. However, this has to balanced against the reality on the ground in Libya at the time.

"We had a population terrorised by a dictator, who had sent his armies forward to crush his own people. He had specifically declared his intention to perpetrate a massacre in Benghazi. I'm not saying that the end justifies the means, but clearly something had to be done."