Home Affairs Minister attends ceremony for Libyan general killed in plane crash
Libyan general Muhammad Ali Ahmad Al-Haddad was killed in a plane crash Tuesday
Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri has attended a remembrance ceremony in honour of Libyan general and army chief of staff Muhammad Ali Ahmad Al-Haddad, who was killed Tuesday, when a Maltese-registered charter aircraft crashed near Ankara, Turkey.
In a statement, the Home Affairs Ministry said Camilleri travelled to Libya on Saturday morning to attend the ceremony, a “gesture of respect that reflects the strong relationship between the two countries, which has continued to strengthen in recent years”.
Malta and Libya have long-standing ties, and in recent years have stepped up cooperation to stem irregular migration across the Central Mediterranean.
Camilleri “conveyed condolences, on behalf of our country”, to Libyan prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, defence ministry officials, the Libyan army and the country’s population, the statement read.
The minister was accompanied by Malta’s ambassador to Libya, Malta’s army chief Brigadier Clinton O'Neill and the Home Affairs Ministry representative for security and employment in Libya.
Turkey's defence ministry announced earlier on Saturday that Al-Haddad's remains would be repatriated that day. A short ceremony for the fallen passengers was held at the Murted air base near Ankara, presided over by Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler, the ministry said on X.
The general, alongside four of his advisers and three crew members, died when their Malta-registered Falcon 50 jet crashed less than forty minutes after take-off.
The plane’s black box – holding records of flight data – was found on farmland close to the crash site, with Turkish authorities saying the crash happened due to an electrical failure, but further investigations will be conducted by a “neutral country”.
The jet was operated by Harmony Jets, a Malta-based company with offices at MIA. The private aviation company was founded in 2017 and operates charter flights and other aviation-related services.
The company, which has operated numerous flights to Libya in recent months, said in a brief statement following the crash that it was "working closely with the authorities and respecting the investigative process".
General al-Hadad was western Libya’s top commander and played a crucial role in UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military, which has been divided much like Libya’s institutions.
Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has struggled to regain stability with two rival executives of the country vying for power: The Tripoli-based government of national unity in the west and Benghazi’s government in the east, controlled by Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
Libya’s eastern government has declared three days of mourning for the fallen army personnel in a rare show of unity.
Turkey is a strong supporter of the Tripoli-based government but has sought in recent years to improve ties with Haftar.