[WATCH] Malta ‘not keen’ on unilateral arms supply to Libya

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The Maltese government “is not too keen” on a unilateral arms supply to Libya, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.

“I would rather see an intervention that is led by the United Nations although we must first allow Bernardino Leon some more time for his peace talks and bring the Libyan factions closer,” Muscat told journalists.

During a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Libya and Egypt asked to lift an arms embargo on Libya, impose a naval blockade on areas not under government control and help build the country’s army to tackle Islamic State and other militants.

But United Nations envoy Bernardino Leon urged swift agreement among the main parties on resolving the crisis and ending the military and political conflict.

He said that since his last briefing to the Council, considerable headway had been made in the talks he has been mediating, in bringing the main parties to the negotiating table.

“We have progressively structured a political dialogue along five mutually reinforcing tracks, bringing together representatives from a broad spectrum of the Libyan political, military and social landscape.”

Leon’s intervention has somewhat influenced Muscat’s recent position, when on Sunday he told MaltaToday that the Geneva peace talks were “not going very far”.

“Leon has first hand experience of what is going on and if he is asking for more time, his call must be respected,” he said.

Muscat said that his government was in favour of political dialogue but warned that the situation can’t be allowed to deteriorate any further.

He said, that while Egypt was willing to help the Libyan government on the ground, a UN-led intervention would be a better option.

Asked about the security situation in Malta, Muscat reiterated that the government was vigilant but this didn’t mean that Malta was the target if some threat from Libya.

“We are taking precautions because that is what being responsible calls for. Being vigilant doesn’t mean we are in danger.”