Updated | Government backing UN peacekeeping mission to Libya

Chris Said calls for peacekeeping mission in Libya • Video by Ray Attard

The Maltese government must push for a peacekeeping mission with the intervention of the international community if stability in Libya is to be established, PN secretary-general Chris Said said today.

“The government must take the initiative and push for a peacekeeping mission in European Union and United Nations fora. There are Maltese citizens and Maltese business interests in Libya… how is the government helping for stability in the neighbouring country?”

Acknowledging that Malta on its own cannot do much, Said added that the government must call on the international community to intervene.

In a reaction, the Office of the Prime Minister said the government had long been calling on the United Nations to send a peace mission to Libya.

“The Prime Minister has been calling on the United Nations to send a peace mission to Libya for months, so much so that the matter was raised during a meeting Muscat held with UK Prime Minister David Cameron,” the OPM said.

The government “welcomed the Opposition’s support” for Muscat’s proposal.

“We are being cautious and responsible in staying in direct contact with European states, amongst them France, the UK, and Italy, on joint steps that must be taken from one moment to the other.

“Only the Opposition wants to be negative and bring partisan politics even in foreign affairs… if three years ago the Nationalist government was seeking public exposure, this government is focused on what has to be done to see our neighbour out of this crisis as soon as possible.”

In his earlier statement, Said took the government to task for what he described as a ‘lack of government cooperation’ in keeping the Opposition informed of the situation in Libya and with any news of Maltese citizens in the oil-rich country.

“Contrary to the PN administration in 2011, the government is not keeping the Opposition informed of what’s going on. We offered our help from the very beginning and it was only thanks to the PN insistence that a motion on Libya was discussed before parliament adjourned for the summer recess,” he said.
Said added that the Prime Minister should keep the Leader of the Opposition informed of the government’s work in Libya.

“This is not a capricious request as the situation in Libya is critical and the Opposition cannot be left in the dark.”

The government said that only yesterday, it had been in contact with Simon Busuttil were he was given a rundown of the latest developments.

Regular informal media briefings on the situation are being held with journalists, addressed by the Head of the Government Contingency Centre Mario Cutajar and head of government communication Kurt Farrugia.

“Chris Said’s statements show the lack of communication within the PN’s leadership,” the government said.

Said accused the government of “incompetence” and of not knowing how to handle the situation. A Maltese oil worker who arrived in Malta on Monday night from Tripoli on a Medavia flight accused the government of ignoring his pleas for help for three weeks by the Maltese government and the foreign affairs ministry.
Saviour Brincat, an oil worker who has been working in Libya for the past 25 years, insisted that he received no support or concrete solutions from the Maltese government, and instead he only received “moral support”.

According to Said, this was not the first Maltese who has criticised the government over its handling of the Libya situation.

The situation in Libya remains critical as the country’s lawmakers gathered far from the country's chaos and warring militias, have elected a judge as the new parliament speaker.
Weeks of fighting in the capital, Tripoli, and the nation’s second-largest city,

Benghazi, have killed more than 230 people and forced most foreigners and diplomats to leave Libya. Because of the violence in Tripoli and Benghazi, the parliament session was held in Tobruk, an anti-Islamist stronghold and a militia-free zone.
Ageila Saleh Eissa is Libya’s third parliament speaker since the downfall and killing of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi in the 2011 uprising and civil war.