The two remaining diplomats at Malta’s embassy in Tripoli have been recalled over concerns for their safety and the intense political pressures being placed on them by rival factions vying for control of the country.
They returned to Malta yesterday afternoon, leaving the embassy manned by Libyans, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Malta’s ambassador to Libya, Mannie Galea, was already here after being asked to come back to attend political meetings last week.
Yesterday, the government also reactivated the crisis centre that had been set up as the trouble in Libya got worse over the summer.
Malta’s embassy was one of the very few that has remained open throughout the developing crisis.
The US embassy to Libya is operating from Malta.
While the Maltese embassy has not closed down, the decision to recall the diplomats was taken in view of the further deteriorating situation in the North African country, which is in turmoil three years after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.
Libya has been torn apart as militias fight for supremacy and two rival parliaments – one based in Tobruk and the other in Tripoli – struggle for control of the country.
Malta’s diplomats and its embassy were being subjected to “ever-increasing political pressures over the last days in the exercise of their official duties”, the ministry said in a statement yesterday evening.
“Our diplomats were, on the one hand, sternly and officially warned by the Tobruk government not to communicate in any way with the self-proclaimed parliament in Tripoli.
“At the same time officials representing the parliament in Tripoli were piling pressure on the Maltese diplomats and the Maltese authorities to recognise the Tripoli government,” the ministry said.
In view of this deteriorating situation, “which could possibly expose diplomats to unnecessary risks to their personal safety”, the Maltese authorities had no alternative but to instruct the two remaining diplomats to return to Malta, it said.
The ministry said its position was that it “had never and will never” interfere in Libya’s internal affairs.
Malta had never and will never interfere with the country’s internal affairs
An armed group seized Tripoli last August, set up its own parliament and reduced the internationally recognised government and House of Representatives to a rump state in the east, with the prime minister and his cabinet based in Bayda and the parliament in Tobruk.
Earlier this month, Libya’s Supreme Court declared the House of Representatives in Tobruk to be unconstitutional. The parliament dismissed the ruling as invalid because the court is based in Tripoli, which is under the control of the rival assembly.
The volatile situation in Tripoli made it difficult for the Maltese diplomats to work, finding themselves torn between the two factions, the ministry said.
Renewing its advice against any travel to Libya, it strongly advised all Maltese nationals still there to leave.
In August, about 40 Maltese nationals had opted to remain in the war-torn country despite the Maltese government’s warning to depart immediately. They include Maltese Bishop Silvestre Magro.
The ministry said those who now need consular assistance should contact the crisis centre on telephone number +356 2204 2200 or freephone 80072203.
Last month, Foreign Minister George Vella had expressed concerns over recent developments in Derna, where militants declared an Islamic caliphate and pledged allegiance to IS, or Islamic State, the Jihadist militant group terrorising Iraq and Syria.