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Valletta Libya Again

Last year at the ceremonies marking the closing of the British naval base in Malta, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, at the head of an eight-hundred-man delegation, proclaimed himself the protector of Maltese security and independence. “Malta,” he declared, “is not a part of Europe, but is one with the Arab world and belongs integrally to the Great Levant.” Malta has since been accepting substantial Libyan economic aid and buys its oil at considerably less than the OPEC price level. But the inhabitants of this island south of Sicily and across the Mediterranean Sea from the Libyan capital of Tripoli were never at ease with Qaddafi’s characterization of them, and now there is a real quarrel between them and their Libyan benefactors. Malta has discovered important deposits of offshore oil near its coast and wants to exploit them. But Libya claims the deposits are within its own territorial jurisdiction. The International Court of Justice at The Hague last spring handed down a decision in favor of the Maltese, but Qaddafi has refused to recognize it. The Maltese decided to go ahead anyway and have hired an American oil company to prospect. Various incidents such as the bombing of the Libyan Arab Airlines office in Valletta have taken place, and tension is running high between Libya and its hitherto cooperative client. Although Malta no longer plays the role of strategic bastion in the central Mediterranean, its location still makes it valuable as a support base. The Soviet Union, with a large and sophisticated military presence in Libya, is known to covet a foothold on Malta, and this shadow hangs over the current dispute.

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Valletta Libya Again

Last year at the ceremonies marking the closing of the British naval base in Malta, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, at the head of an eight-hundred-man delegation, proclaimed himself the protector of Maltese security and independence. “Malta,” he declared, “is not a part of Europe, but is one with the Arab world and belongs integrally to the Great Levant.” Malta has since been accepting substantial Libyan economic aid and buys its oil at considerably less than the OPEC price level. But the inhabitants of this island south of Sicily and across the Mediterranean Sea from the Libyan capital of Tripoli were never at ease with Qaddafi’s characterization of them, and now there is a real quarrel between them and their Libyan benefactors. Malta has discovered important deposits of offshore oil near its coast and wants to exploit them. But Libya claims the deposits are within its own territorial jurisdiction. The International Court of Justice at The Hague last spring handed down a decision in favor of the Maltese, but Qaddafi has refused to recognize it. The Maltese decided to go ahead anyway and have hired an American oil company to prospect. Various incidents such as the bombing of the Libyan Arab Airlines office in Valletta have taken place, and tension is running high between Libya and its hitherto cooperative client. Although Malta no longer plays the role of strategic bastion in the central Mediterranean, its location still makes it valuable as a support base. The Soviet Union, with a large and sophisticated military presence in Libya, is known to covet a foothold on Malta, and this shadow hangs over the current dispute.