By Libya Herald staff.
Malta, 31 December 2014:
A group of Libyans supporting the Tripoli-based Libya Dawn government demonstrated in Malta on Monday against the Maltese government’s recognition of the Tobruk appointed charge d’affaires.
About 30 Libyans demonstrated peacefully in front of the Castille, the seat of the Maltese Prime Minister in Valletta, and presented a letter in protest.
The Maltese government has followed the lead of the UN and EU in recognizing the Tobruk based House of Representatives (HoR) and its appointed government led by Prime Minister Abdullah Thinni based in Al-Beida as the sole representatives of the Libyan people.
Both the HoR and Thinni government were forced to abandon Tripoli after it was occupied by Misrata-led and General National Congress supported Libya Dawn militias this summer.
The Libyan Supreme Court has since ruled that the HoR elections, and therefore its chosen government too, were unconstitutional. The ruling has not been recognized by the international community and questions have been raised about its soundness.
The situation has left Libya in political limbo with continued fighting between the two sides leading to the destruction of some of Libya’s largest oil tanks in Sidra being destroyed.
Malta became unwittingly embroiled in the political divisions of Libya when the HoR appointed former Culture Minister Habib Lamin as charge d’affaires in Malta.
However, the incumbent and Libya Dawn supported charge d’affaires, residing in the Libyan embassy in Attard, has refused to vacate the building nor to allow his successor in. The Tobruk appointed Lamin has subsequently had to take up office at the Libyan consular office in Ta’ Xbiex.
This now means that there are two ‘’embassies’’ in Malta purporting to represent Libya, reflecting the political division in Libya of two parliaments, two prime ministers and two governments.
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