Why Labour keeps mum about Gaddafi (6)
Published:
February 23, 2011 at 9:41pm
Muammar Gaddafi, Dom Mintoff and AST
The New York Times, 20 November 1984:
Colonel Qaddafi of Libya has taught us a good deal in his bungled attempt to reach into Egypt to kill a political opponent. The going rate for murder among British and Maltese contractors is $250,000, plus $150,000 to the Egyptian locals for dirty work. The fee is payable on receipt, at the Libyan Embassy in Malta, of a clear snapshot of the dead victim. That evidence then becomes the basis for broadcast boasts that patriotic ”suicide squads” have eliminated yet another infidel or Zionist tool.
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Here’s the link. Ah, those Golden Years. I suppose Joseph Muscat isn’t aware of just how massive a marketing campaign Mintoff and Karmenu conducted for Malta in the international press, and all for free, kif kien ihobb hu.
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/20/opinion/there-sits-a-state-terrorist.html?scp=193&sq=malta&st=nyt
Going further back in the New York Times’ archives, this is the précis of an item from Sept. 7, 1971:
Qualified diplomatic sources say Malta Prime Minister Mintoff Govt secretly accepted $12-million emergency loan from Libya on Aug 17 after refusing Soviet offer of tech aid; say Mintoff accepted loan to halt rapid deterioration in econ as result of deadlocked talks with GB over retention of Brit defense base; say Mintoff’s switch to Libya for aid has allayed Western concern over his policies; say Libya, which is hostile to Communism, proposed loan as alternative to Soviet offer; say Mintoff offered no facilities to Libya or other Arab countries and does not wish to replace NATO presence on Malta with Arab presence.
Also of interest is this transcript of a speech delivered in Morocco in Jan. 1981 by Mintoff on Maltese-Libyan relations. It points to a less than entirely convivial relationship:
[Mintoff speaking in Maltese, fading into Arabic translation]
[Maltese-Arab relations and friendship; Maltese support for Arab causes; Arab countries, including Morocco, have helped Malta; Malta’s neutrality is essential for peace.]
The Arab countries have helped us realize our freedom. Libya also was among the countries which helped Malta realize its freedom.
But, regrettably, and despite Libyan help to Malta, Libya was among the countries which restricted Maltese freedom and sent Libyan naval units to Maltese territorial waters into a part which we, the Maltese, claim to be under Maltese sovereignty.
It is worth mentioning that four years ago, during a visit to Malta by Col Qadhafi, the Libyan Minister Taha ash-Sharif Bin Amir signed an agreement with his Maltese opposite number on the question of referring the question of the continental shelf to the International Court of Justice. For four years we pressed and urged Libya for the ratification of this agreement. When we found out that it was futile to press Libya we decided to drill despite the Libyans.
Despite the Libyan restriction of Malta’s independence and freedom we managed not to invite a great foreign power to preserve the freedom of Malta.
We were aware that at the time there were many foreign powers which wanted to give a helping hand to Malta in those circumstances. But we did not do that, as we do not believe in wars and in particular among brothers.
We turned towards the UN Security Council and placed the issue before it. The Libyans always maintained that there was no problem with Malta and that relations were still normal.
The Libyans promised the [UN] Secretary General Kurt Waldheim that Libya would ratify the agreement with Malta, and that by 15th December all papers and documents on ratification will be [word indistinct] and that the issues would be referred to the International Court of Justice. Despite the fact that the General People’s Congress in Libya approved the agreement with Malta – and that was after four years – Libya has not yet forwarded the documents to the International Court of Justice.
I am not saying this today for the purpose of inciting Morocco against Libya, but I am saying this today so as it may reach the ears of the Libyans and in particular the ears of Col Qadhafi so that he understands that the secret of friendship among states lies in respecting these states’ freedom and sovereignty.
When we faced that Libyan threat, we said that it would help us prove to the whole world, and the Arab world in particular, that it was not true that Malta was nothing but a Libyan colony; on the contrary.
Now we are turning towards the Arab peoples and countries in order that they contribute to filling this vacuum which has resulted from the tension in Maltese-Libyan relations. It is in our interest that we co-operate and coordinate our efforts instead of inciting one side against the other.
Thus when we say that when we are in Morocco we feel at home, this is because we find that our Moroccan brothers appreciate our problems and circumstances. We believe that there is a vast scope for co-operation and for the coordination of efforts in order to resolve these problems.
A Maltese proverb says: Treat every evil as if it were good. We are trying to transform our problems into good and prosperity for our country. We want to maintain excellent relations with all the Arab countries.
We want to once more prove, and to Libya in particular, that Malta is a free and sovereign country. If Libya wants us to respect its freedom and sovereignty, it has to respect our freedom and sovereignty.
When we say we have friendly relations with all the Arab countries, that is true as in addition to our excellent relations with Morocco we also have excellent relations with Algeria. We assisted in the past and will do the same in the future to resolve the temporary problem between the two countries.
And finally, and apologies for spamming, here is a piece by Christian Science Monitor reporter Jim Rupert from Dec. 1984 about an assassination plot against a Libyan dissident in Malta:
VALLETTA, Malta _ Eddie Fenech Adami is worried about what the Libyans are doing on his islands.
Last month’s foiled assassination plot against a Libyan dissident, which allegedly involved the Libyan embassy here, fueled suspicions that Libya is using Malta as a staging ground for terrorism.
The latest cause of concern for Mr. Fenech Adami, the leader of Malta’s opposition Nationalist Party, is the new Maltese-Libyan cooperation treaty published last week.
Under the accord, Libya will train Maltese forces and provide unspecified help, should Malta ask for it, in combatting ”threats or acts of aggression against Malta’s territorial integrity or sovereignty.”
In recent years, Malta’s internal political situation has grown increasingly bitter and violent. Government officials have accused the Nationalists of responsibility for a two-month string of bombings, of trying to overthrow the government, and of taking massive financial aid from foreign Christian Democratic parties.
The Nationalists deny the charges. But Fenech Adami worries they might serve the government as a pretext for using Libyan help to fight domestic opposition. ”This military relationship, at a moment of huge internal difficulties . . . makes us worry about the future of democracy in Malta,” he said in a recent interview.
Western diplomats here share Fenech Adami’s concern in varying degrees. Some worry about the immediate influence of Libya and the Soviet Union. Libya owns portions of various commercial and industrial projects here, including a part of Malta’s new shipyard, an important source of jobs for the economy and votes for the socialist government. The Soviets signed a $265 million trade deal with Malta earlier this year, including an order for the construction of several ships.
Other diplomats stress the staunch nationalism of Malta’s prime minister, Dom Mintoff, suggesting he would not permit foreign domination of Malta. Mr. Mintoff closed a NATO naval base here in 1979 and declared Malta’s neutrality.
One year later, Mintoff expelled much of the Libyan community after a dispute with Libya over offshore drilling rights. The new treaty completes a gradual normalization of Maltese-Libyan relations.
Facing economic stagnation in the islands, Mintoff has pressured other countries to increase economic aid and guarantee larger orders for Maltese goods.
Western diplomats say he has been skillful in playing off East against West. But they express little confidence in Mintoff’s potential successors, who are already battling for influence. The diplomats fear one or more of the rivals might offer Libya a larger role in Malta in exchange for support in the succession struggle.
Diplomats and Maltese opposition figures have long suspected that Libya was using its business and diplomatic communities here as staging points for terrorism abroad.
The suspicions were confirmed when Egypt exposed Libya’s plan to kill former Libyan Prime Minister Abdel-Hamid Bakkush in Cairo. Egypt accused the Libyan embassy here of organizing the plot. Libya never denied the charges, made while Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi was here to sign the treaty.
But last weekend, the Maltese government broke its silence on the affair by accusing Egypt of ”fooling” Libya into attempting the assassination.
In an interview, Malta’s deputy prime minister, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, said the Egyptian Embassy here had admitted recruiting two Maltese and two British citizens and sending them to the Libyan embassy to pose as a hit squad for hire. Mr. Mifsud Bonnici said had Libya accepted the men’s offer to kill Mr. Bakkush.
”We are very angry that the Egyptians should have used Malta to work this on the Libyans,” Mifsud Bonnici said.
He warned Egypt that Malta would publish proof of its claims and demand the release of the two Maltese under arrest in Cairo.
Mifsud Bonnici said Malta had guarantees from both Cairo and Libya against similar incidents in the future. He also made it clear that Malta would not allow relations with Libya to be hurt.
If Alfred Sant was right about anything in 1996-98, it was when he called Dom Mintoff “a traitor”; Mintoff sold Malta to il-barrani Muammaer el Ghaddafi.
Labourites make a lot of fuss about the closing of the British naval base in Malta but they do not admit that a Libyan ‘military base’ was set up here and used to organise assassination missions.
And the PL has the brass neck to be scandalised because a plane, used by the CIA for their infamous extraordinary renditions, stopped over in Malta.
George Vella makes ‘ferocious’ speeches to criticise courtesy visits by NATO ships when, in their time, they allowed Gheddafi to establish a terrorist lair in Sliema (that was where the embassy was, at the time).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwardu/1160228518/
The Libyans had Villa Drago in Sliema, too: hence the green apertures.
Li qed tikteb qisu “ghadda w mar” imma dan hu il-PM futur taghna.
L-ewwel safra tieghu bhala kap ta’ l-oppozizzjoni kienet lejn il-Libja u kellmu fuq kollox minbarra fuq it-thaffir ghaz-zejt minn Malta.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=418135483751&comments&ref=mf
“Ħidma importanti għal futur mhux biss tal-Partit Laburista imma għal malta u ghawdex kollha.prosit Dr.Muscat
August 4, 2010 at 3:25am ·”
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/joseph-muscat/muscat-meets-libyan-leader-in-tripoli
The clandestine Libyan security centre in Malta was in a Qormi bakery specialising in Arab style bakery products, not in Sliema.
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/20/opinion/there-sits-a-state-terrorist.html?scp=1&sq=There%20Sits%20a%20State%20Terrorist&st=cse
Editorial, The New York Times, 20 November 1984
Colonel Qaddafi of Libya has taught us a good deal in his bungled attempt to reach into Egypt to kill a political opponent. The going rate for murder among British and Maltese contractors is $250,000, plus $150,000 to the Egyptian locals for dirty work. THE FEE IS PAYABLE ON RECEIPT, AT THE LIBYAN EMBASSY IN MALTA, OF A CLEAR SNAPSHOT OF THE DEAD VICTIM. That evidence then becomes the basis for broadcast boasts that patriotic ”suicide squads” have eliminated yet another infidel or Zionist tool.