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Summoned by the Foreign Minister last Monday to deliver an urgent message to his government, Libyan Ambassador to Malta, Saad El Shlmani, says taking immigrants back to Libya is not a solution 
Malta’s tone of diplomacy with Libya changed so fast that it took observers by surprise. Over the weekend, more than 200 illegal immigrants land in Malta. By Monday, Foreign Minister Michael Frendo informs Libyan Ambassador to Malta, Saad El Shlmani, that Malta would not accept any more immigrants landing from Libya, while announcing the appointment of a special envoy who would go to Libya to negotiate a repatriation agreement.
The Libyan ambassador, or as he is officially known, the Secretary of the Libyan People’s Bureau, remains composed when faced with the warning.
“Well, we understand the position Malta is in, we know what Malta is facing, that Malta is a small country and that this problem is affecting Maltese society,” he says. “This is not the first time, even last year, during summer – immigrants come not only to Malta but also to other European countries. So my reaction was that I understood Malta’s position and as ambassador I was ready to deliver the message to my government in a very friendly way. It wasn’t presented as a protest or something but it was in the spirit of explaining the situation that Malta is facing. We know this and we try to help within the context of good friendly relations.”
Still, Frendo’s “we’re not in a position to take more” declaration prompts the ambassador to delve into the bigger picture of illegal immigration that has so far eluded the international community’s attention, as he articulately explains, in contrast with the global war on terrorism.
“I interpreted Frendo as wanting Libya to do more in preventing this, and I explained that we are doing all that we can, we are doing all our efforts to stop people from crossing,” he says. “But we always insist that this is an international phenomenon, happening not only in the Mediterranean but all over the world. This international problem must have an international solution. So the world should come together, in the same way it is facing international terrorism, to face this phenomenon. These people are coming from many different countries, crossing to many countries and settling in many countries, so it has to be an international solution.”
Meeting Dr El Shlmani, 48, at the Libyan embassy in Hal-Balzan, it is immediately clear he forms part of the smart, young breed of western-educated Libyan diplomats and government functionaries.
No gratuitous ventures in Jamahiri thought, although I admit I avoided prodding him in that direction. Born in Benghazi, he studied for seven years in the UK, from where he got a PhD in international relations from the University of Durham. His English is next to perfect, and with his business-like approach, British sense of understatement and punctuality, he stands out as a different Libyan.
Here is, to my revelation, a member of the ultra-secret “Libyan-British-American team” that brokered the historical 2003 backroom deal that brought the Jamahiriya back to the international fold in an impressive truce that solved decades of deadly disputes, ranging from Lockerbie and the financing of terrorist groups to the bombing of none other than Col Muammar Gaddafi’s house on US President Reagan’s direct orders.
“I was a member of the Libyan team that was in dialogue with America and Britain, which then culminated in the 2003 agreement,” he says quite casually. “We called it the Libyan-British-American Dialogue Team. Dialogue was the key. We discussed many issues frankly, including the Weapons of Mass Destruction issue, the Lockerbie issue, and all the other controversies.”
I tell him he was making history behind the backs of the entire world.
“Well, we did our best.”
His best is what he promises to do now as well, although he clearly sticks to his borders as “messenger” in this dispute that cropped up between the two governments, just as the controversy on the Libyan fishing zone extension was starting to fizzle out.
“In Libya we don’t have exact figures but it is estimated there are more than one million, maybe 1.5 million immigrants,” he says – an apocalyptic figure if all of them decided to board their boats and sail towards Malta and Italy.
“Some of them are coming to live in Libya but most of them are preparing to go somewhere else looking for a much better life,” he says matter of factly. “They imagine that they can find this in Europe or maybe in America.”
But does the Libyan government accept the responsibility to stop illegal immigrants from leaving Libyan shores, also illegally?
“To be honest we have to take into account that this is a very complex issue,” he says, laying out his country’s priorities in this matter of “many dimensions”.
“You have to protect your country, because this phenomenon brings with it health problems, crime problems, security problems, and you need to take care of this. Then you need to prevent these people from crossing because they are mainly risking their lives, they will die in the Mediterranean. And you need to cooperate with the international community, with your friendly neighbours who don’t want to face this. But you have to do all this within the context of international law, and then you have to face any criticism from the international organisations, from the United Nations and human rights groups… so when tackling this problem you have to take all this into consideration. It is very complex.”
Libya admits that patrolling its vast territory, with the Sahara desert bordering with six countries and an immense shoreline on the Mediterranean is a nightmare, in a country that does not even have official figures of its own population, scattered across thousands of kilometres in diverse tribes. Estimates of the Libyan population vary between five and six million. With all census figures pertaining to the realm of guesswork, the figures of underground immigration into Libya itself turn out to be totally unreliable.
“We are making all our efforts,” he says about controlling immigration flow out of Libya, “but we cannot guarantee the desired results. There will still be people who manage to cross, even inside Libya.”
About joint patrols with Maltese and other foreign forces, the ambassador says he is “not in a position to say yes or no”.
“But I know there were a lot of discussions between Libya and the EU in the last months. We discussed saving lives in the sea and in the Sahara, and we agreed on having a conference in the beginning of next year in Tripoli.”
One of the commitments is to start joint exercises from next year, but that is too far away while the crisis gets worse. What are you going to do right now?
“What we are trying to do now is to take the message across to the Libyan authorities. We’ve agreed to have a technical team going from Malta to Libya next week, [headed by Martin Scicluna] to discuss with the Libyan authorities and hopefully there will be some solutions.”
Any prospects of reaching a repatriation agreement between Malta and Libya, on the same model as Italy’s?
“The Maltese side is trying to raise this with Libya, to do something on the lines of the Italian agreement, but again I think when the technical team is in Tripoli discussing with their counterparts, they might come to something like that, but I’m not in a position to say whether they will reach an agreement or not.”
Ironically, Italy was highly criticised for sending some 1,000 immigrants back to Libya last year. EU Commissioner Frattini recently said that Europe has to make sure that human rights of illegal immigrants in Libya are respected before concluding any repatriation agreement with your government.
“It’s up to them to decide whether they want to send them back to us because of human rights,” El Shlmani says, almost grinning. “Maybe it’s a good thing not to send them back because in fact they have to be sent back to their original countries, not to Libya. Nobody can say 100 per cent that they came from Libya. There is a lot of speculation that these people may be brought by bigger ships in the middle of the Mediterranean and then transferred onto much smaller boats. Taking back, say, 100 people to Libya, is not going to be a solution, because they will keep coming, they will manage. We need to understand that behind this phenomenon there is a net of traders, people who are making money out of trafficking humans.
“Having said that, Libya is proud of its human rights record, it was the president of the international committee on human rights for one year. Libya is trying to help the people who are asking for refugee status; they live in Libya and some of them have jobs, but the number is much bigger than Libya can hold.”
What guarantees does Libya give to the international community that illegal immigrants in Libya have a chance to apply for refugee status? Last year, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) expressed its concerns over the Libyan government’s intention “to ensure minimum standards of treatment for persons who might be in need of international protection”.
Also, when the same agency asked the authorities in Tripoli for access to the immigrants returned from Italy, it was denied.
“UNHCR is concerned that some people who may be in need of protection will be forcibly returned to their homeland without access to any asylum procedure,” the agency said.
And according to Amnesty International: “The human rights situation in Libya remains a matter of grave concern… Laws, institutions and practices violating human rights continue to operate and the truth about past events remains undisclosed. …With few but important exceptions, Libyans remain afraid to engage in human rights activities in the country.”
“The fact that they are acknowledging this improvement now in Libya, this means that they understand that there is a process of opening up and trying to improve the situation,” the ambassador says coolly. “But we are proud of our human rights record, and the fact that Libya was a leader of an international human rights organisation is evidence of this.”
Given his insistence on the human rights presidency, I tell him that actually Libya had some staunch critics against its appointment, arguing that it only got that post thanks to its lobbying with African countries to vote for it.
“Well, Libya was chosen by the international community. It contributed and is ready to contribute; it’s improving the situation of its people, and the fact that millions of people are coming to Libya to live there is evidence that the country is stable, that there is freedom, that it has economic potential; otherwise you will not have 1.5 million coming from all around the world to Libya.”
Fair enough. But what is somehow harrowing about those 1.5 million or more immigrants, is that there is no official distinction between refugees, asylum seekers, illegal immigrants and foreign residents.
“To be honest it is not like in a European country that when foreigners arrive you try to classify them,” he says, revealing a radically different perspective on the whole issue, with ensuing chaotic consequences. But that may only be in our western eyes, as the Libyan ambassador explains his people’s viewpoint, at least part of it, which is after all a very pragmatic policy of benevolence.
“When they come we consider them as our guests, so we leave them living and you’ll find them all over the place, working or searching for jobs, we do not classify them as ‘political refugees’ or ‘asylum seekers’. We consider them as people in need, because otherwise they would not come to us. They are fleeing from poverty and civil wars, and we are under obligation to receive them as brothers and guests.”
So what about documents, passports, visas and residence permits?
“People coming from sub-Saharan countries do not usually carry documents with them.”
What happens to them? Do you let them roam around free in Libyan society?
“Yes, I mean what can you do? You try to convince some of them to go back, even to try to help them, but we don’t force anyone.”
So can you tell us what kind of immigrants are kept in Libya’s detention centres?
“You know, people committing crimes or creating problems, or having health problems, they might be kept in detention centres to find out what we can do for them, but otherwise they are living normally in Libya.”
So what happens to immigrants who are repatriated back to Libya?
“This is a hypothetical situation, so I cannot answer you.”
What happened to the 1,000 immigrants or so that were repatriated from Italy?
“I’m not aware of the details of that agreement but that can be discussed when the Maltese technical team goes to Libya, who may want to take the Italian model as their basis. I think it is up to the two countries to sit together and discuss solutions.”
So there is no one process of how to deal with repatriated immigrants into Libya? Is that what you’re saying?
“To be honest I am not sure of all the details because I was not involved in this, but it is up to the two countries to agree on the details.”
Dr El Shlmani’s honesty is, frankly, disconcerting. If what he says is correct, Italy’s return of 1,000 immigrants to Libya last year was illegally subjected to an unknown bilateral agreement, beyond the imperatives of international human rights conventions. That is, after all, what Italy has been harshly accused of by the European Union.
Back to the home front. With the Libyan coordinates of the controversial fishing zone extension finally provided to the Maltese government, I ask him why it took so long for our friendly neighbour to provide us and our fishermen with such a basic piece of information.
“Because it is a technical matter. You need a technical team to come and decide, you cannot do things in one day or one week sometimes.”
The point is that you declared this zone, so there was expectation that you would provide the map of where your zone begins and ends.
“Again, to be honest, I do not know all the details, but Libya declared this zone according to international requirements. We declared a fishing conservation zone in order to protect this area from over fishing, because people are coming to fish in the Mediterranean from all over the world.”
Actually there are tuna industry giants coming with their fishing fleets to Libyan waters, mainly from Spain, currently over-fishing the remaining stocks of blue fin tuna.
He nods his head calmly without offering much opposition – Doesn’t that contradict what you’ve just said?
“Declaring a fishing conservation zone doesn’t mean there will be no fishing there, but maybe according to certain procedures, to certain licences, you know, it will be known who’s there, you can control what he’s doing.”
Useless pointing out that access to Libyan waters can come in the form of strategic alliances with none other than the son of Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi himself, Seif al Islam. That is the realm of private business, and there is hope also for Malta.
“Even Malta,” he says pre-empting me, “when I went with minister Frendo to meet with our prime minister, he was told they can discuss this with the Libyan authorities that will be monitoring fishing, and so we can reach an agreement. Every country has a fishing protection zone, even Malta, as is its right according to international law. Then to fish in other countries you can always have joint ventures, for example, or you can discuss a bilateral agreement, but this can only be done when we come together and sit and discuss.”
Will Malta’s request to allow 15 Maltese fishing vessels at any one time in the Libyan fishing zone be accepted by his government?
“To be accepted, it is not up to me to decide, but I know that the Libyan government received this request and promised to consider it, to consider it favourably because with Malta we are a friendly neighbouring country, and we used to have a joint venture, a joint fishing company.”
What happened to that?
“It stopped at a certain time but it can be revived.”
Both countries like saying they are friendly neighbours…
“Yes, because that is a fact,” he interjects.
But, let’s admit it, the warm, personal relationship between Malta’s and Libya’s leaders are no longer there. I mean, Mintoff and Gaddafi adored (and at times hated) each other in their life-long rapport, while Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici literally saved the Colonel’s life in that historic telephone call warning him of unauthorised war planes crossing over Maltese territory towards Tripoli. Now, particularly on the diplomatic front, there is clear turbulence and the depth of the relationship is seemingly lost.
“To be honest I think that the relation between Libya and Malta is between Libya and Malta, the Libyan people and the Maltese people,” he says in textbook diplomatic lingo. “So the relation will remain there because of the fact of geography and history, and we have to cooperate.”
But he concedes the point, to some extent.
“Yes, the relations between all countries can have ups and downs, sometimes they’re good, sometimes for certain reasons they aren’t, but there is a need to keep the relation steady and going well because it’s in the benefit of both countries. As an ambassador here, I have only this as a mission, just to improve relations between the two countries, to do all that we can to make the two peoples close together and get the countries closer.”
He also admits barely four months since his appointment as ambassador here, he was not expecting all these diplomatic headaches to crop up so soon.
“Well, to be honest, I was not,” he replies, “but you know, always, when you’re in certain positions you have to deal with difficult situations,” he says. “For six years I worked in Rwanda,” he says about his 25-year career at the Libyan Foreign Ministry.
“The situation there was much more difficult than here in Malta,” he says in what I silently hope to be a veritable understatement. “But since I used to come to Malta in delegations, I always knew Libya and Malta have special relations. Malta for Libya is different from other countries. This has been the case for hundreds of years; it is not us who created this relation, the relation was there, and it is evident in the language, in the social context.”
But what does that special relationship mean, at a time when Libya is dealing directly with its former arch-enemies, namely the US and the UK? What is there beyond the diplomatic rhetoric?
“Having good relations with the international community doesn’t mean that we will leave Malta behind or exclude Malta from being with us in cooperation with other countries. Malta has some experience in some sectors where Libya can benefit, Libyans are doing business here and we can encourage this further, and help further Maltese registering their companies and do business in Libya in all kinds of sectors.”
Admittedly, this is not just rhetoric. “It is a reality,” the ambassador adds on. “People are going and making a living, either from the Maltese side in Libya, or Libyans who live here and get married with Maltese women. We have now a new generation of Libyan-Maltese people and this will be the basis of a much longer-lasting relationship between us.”
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