British Foreign Secretary in Malta as meeting with PM set to focus on Libya

In a statement released this evening, the Maltese government announced that British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Philip Hammond will be arriving in Malta this evening for a visit which has been planned and scheduled over the past weeks.

The statement was issued moments before Hammond landed in Malta.

“Hammond will be holding talks with the Maltese Government about United Kingdom’s EU-reform agenda,” the government said. “The Foreign Secretary’s discussions with the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs will also focus on Libya.”

Hammond, British media report, rejected international military action in Libya, and said the crisis-hit country needed a political solution. "We don't believe that military action can solve the problem in Libya," Hammond said at a press conference in Algiers.

The commander of Libya's air force also has warned against sending foreign troops to Libya.

Saqr al-Joroushi said such a move would not be welcomed by Libyans despite the violence being wrought by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and other extremist groups, and would worsen the situation, The Telegraph reports.

"If any foreign soldier touches our soil with his foot, all Libyan people will be united against him," said Joroushi. "Our problems will be aggravated with the coming of foreign troops."

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.”