Malta and
Libya: close friends caught in the storm
Relations between Malta and Libya took off after the military coup by
Muammar Gadhafi in Libya and the election of Malta Labour Party leader
Dominic Mintoff to power in the early 1970's. Libya gave substantial
financial aid to Malta, which had a neutral and non-aligned stance in
the Cold War era.
The close
relations between the two countries gave fruit immediately with substantial
Libyan investment in Malta. Several hundred Maltese workers were employed
in the Libyan oil industry, which supplies Malta with its needs for
petroleum.
Relations
were strained twice in the span of thirty years. The first incident
occurred when Libyan gunboats took an aggressive stance with Maltese
naval vessels in dispute over oil exploration. Although Malta is situated
near rich oil reserves being exploited by Libya, it has never struck
oil despite recurrent attempts. Malta had to back down and continues
to buy oil from Libya at a preferential rate.
In 1992
the United Nations imposed sanctions on Libya after it refused to hand
in the two Libyan suspects accused of masterminding and carrying out
the bombing of the Pan Am flight. Malta, an active member of the U.N.,
fell in-line with the resolution and imposed sanctions on Libya. Maltese
and Libyan investment in both countries suffered. The airlink between
the two countries was suspended and for a long time the only outside
link for Libya was the sea link between Libya and Malta.
The
sanctions took their toll on Libyan investment in Malta. Libya accumulated
huge debts with the Maltese government and Maltese companies since it
did not have enough money to pay. When the sanctions against Libya were
lifted in 1999 Libya agreed to start paying back its accumulated debts.
The second
incident that strained relations was the shooting of Fathi Shqaqi in
front a hotel in Sliema, Malta, on the 25th of October 1995. Shqaqi
was the leader of the Islamic Jihad, a terrorist Palestinian group,
and he was allegedly shot dead by two Israeli secret agents.
The killing
sparked protests in Libya who at that time was sponsoring terrorist
attacks against Israel. Libyan protestors gathered in front of the Maltese
embassy in Tripoli and the ferry service between Malta and Libya, at
the time the only link between Libya and the rest of the world of the
United Nations sanctions in connection with the Lockerbie case was suspended
immediately. It was resumed after several months.
Later in
1999 another incident could have strained relations, but it wasn't the
case. The Maltese Foreign Ministry in January announced that it intercepted
a consignment of Scud missile parts destined for Libya in April 199
and sent them back to Britain several months later. 
A
spokesman for the Maltese Ministry confirmed that the consignment landed
in Malta from London's Gatwick airport. The cargo of 32 crates was inspected
on the island after suspicions it contained weapons equipment. They
were subsequently confiscated and returned to London, where they were
discovered to be Scud parts.
An official
for the British Foreign Office told Reuters that suspicions were first
roused in April 1999, but he said the issue was not raised with Libyan
officials during talks to end the 15-year diplomatic break between the
two countries because Britain "did not want to prejudice the inquiry."
Formal seizure of the shipment took place in November 1999, and the
whole story was uncovered in January on the Sunday Times of London.
Malta served
as a main transit point for Libyan travellers and cargo when Tripoli
airport was closed during years of international sanctions against Libya
over the Lockerbie case. Export of missiles to Libya is illegal under
a European Union arms embargo and an international treaty against the
proliferation of ballistic missiles. Scuds are short-range, road-mobile,
ballistic missiles that can carry chemical, biological or nuclear warheads
in addition to traditional explosive payloads. This was not the first
time Malta is mentioned as a transit point for smuggling of arms in
Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
As soon
as the Lockerbie verdict was announced, the United Nations lifted its
sanctions imposed on Libya. The Malta-Libya air routes could reopen,
and Libyan Arab Airlines resumed its operations in Malta. The lifting
of sanctions opened new doors for Maltese investment in Libya and vice
versa.
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