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By Libya Herald reporter.
Malta, 15 February 2015:
The Maltese Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, has today called for a UN military mission to . . .[restrict]restore security and order in Libya in order to prevent it from becoming a ‘’failed state’’, the Malta Times reports.
He objected to any form of unilateral action but expressed his backing for Italy’s call for UN intervention.
Although Muscat said there was no ‘’immediate’’ threat to Malta from the Libyan situation, he felt that the real threat was to the entire Mediterranean region and felt that the illegal migration issue would intensify by the summer if the lack of security and law and order continued in Libya.
If Libya is a failed state, there will be a free-for-all situation for criminal gangs running these illegal crossings, Muscat said.
“Our duty is not to allow Libya to become a failed state, before acting. This is the time for certain decisions. The only solution is a UN backed intervention, to restore security,” he said.
Muscat urged some ‘’obstinate’’ Maltese citizens still in Libya to return home, adding that they were still in Libya ‘’against the recommendations of the Maltese government”.
It will be recalled that there were reports of the Maltese St James clinic in the Ben Ashour district of Tripoli closing down yesterday.
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