Byron Camilleri among EU delegation ordered to abandon east Libya visit
EU commissioner and three ministers had flown in from the Libyan capital Tripoli
Byron Camilleri was among a delegation of three EU ministers ordered to leave eastern Libya immediately on Tuesday after they arrived in the main city Benghazi for planned talks.
Accusing the bloc's delegation of a "flagrant breach of diplomatic norms", the authorities said they had cancelled its visit and told it to "leave Libyan territory immediately".
Camilleri was in Libya as part of an EU-organised delegation along with the bloc's commissioner for internal affairs and migration, Magnus Brunner, the Italian interior ministers Matteo Piantedosi, and Greek migration Minister Thanos Plevris.
They had flown in from the Libyan capital Tripoli, where it held talks with the UN-backed Government of National Unity. It is understood the delegation had just emerged from the plane in Benghazi when they were told to leave.
Earlier on Tuesday, the home affairs minister posted on Facebook that he had arrived in Libya for "a long day of work in Malta’s interest". He arrived back in Malta at around 6pm on Tuesday.
In a Facebook post on his return to Malta, Camilleri said the delegation had held "positive" meetings in Tripoli with the Prime Minister and the Ministers for Home Affairs and Labour.
"Unfortunately, the scheduled meeting in Benghazi was cancelled due to a protocol issue between local authorities and the EU Embassy in Libya," he said.
Straight after their arrival in Benghazi, the head of the eastern administration, Osama Hammad, declared all four men persona non grata, AFP reported.
He called on all diplomats and representatives of non-governmental organisations to "respect the sovereignty of the Libyan state", without elaborating.
Last year, Camilleri held talks in Benghazi with Khalifa Haftar, the de facto leader of the government of the eastern part of Libya.
Byron Camilleri meeting Field Marshal Haftar during a visit in 2024. Photo: DOIThe EU delegation was in Libya this week for talks about illegal migration with the UN-backed Government of National Unity.
Speaking at the talks, Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah pledged a "national campaign with the support of several friendly countries to combat the trafficking of human beings,"
"The migration issue cannot be resolved without the support of friendly countries... The problem exceeds our country's capabilities."
Interior Minister Imad Trabelsi said Libya hosted between three and four million migrants who had entered the North African country illegally and whom "we encourage to leave".
The interior ministry said it would regularise the status of migrants with skills sought by Libyan employers but others would be deported.
Libya has been gripped by unrest since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime ruler Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising.
It has become a hub for tens of thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe, risking their lives at sea.
Migrants intercepted by Libyan authorities -- even in international waters before reaching the Italian coast, some 300 kilometres away -- are forcibly returned to Libya and held in detention under harsh conditions frequently condemned by the United Nations.
The EU's willingness to assist the authorities in their crackdown on irregular migration has been strongly criticised by human rights groups.
"The EU's morally bankrupt migration cooperation with Libyan authorities amounts to complicity in horrific human rights violations," Amnesty International said in a statement ahead of the ministers' visit.
"The EU and its member states must urgently re-evaluate their support for Libyan authorities," the director of its European institutions office, Eve Geddie, said.