Malta demands Libyan explanation on Central Bank governor incident in Tripoli

The Maltese government has requested "an immediate explanation" from the Libyan government on an incident in which Central Bank governor Josef Bonnici's protocol car was stopped and seized by militiamen outside Tripoli, on Sunday.

A spokesperson for the foreign ministry confirmed that since the incident, the government had requested that the Libyans offer an official explanation for a harrowing episode in which Bonnici's car was stopped by heavily armed militiamen as he was on his way to Tripoli from the airport.

The car in which Bonnici was being escorted in was seized by members of the Zintan militias on Sunday.

A group from one of the Zintan militias, Brigade 14, which was assigned to protect the Algerian-Libyan borders, seized a number government vehicles because of the government's failure to settle their financial entitlements.

Bonnici was one unintended victim of the seizures on Sunday afternoon, after arriving on a flight from Malta for meetings with officials from the Central Bank of Libya.

Met at the airport by Maltese Ambassador Victor Camilleri, he set off to his hotel in a vehicle from protocol accompanied by another in tow. At a checkpoint on the airport road set up by the brigade, the drivers of the two cars were stopped and ordered to pull over to the side. It is thought that the brigadesmen there were specifically waiting for the two protocol cars.

"There then followed a discussion among brigade members, presumably about whether or not they should take the cars. In they end they decided to do so. The bank governor was politely but unceremoniously told to get into the ambassador's car which formed part of the convoy. He was then allowed to continue his journey to the hotel," the Libya Herald reported.

The seized vehicles were then taken away to add to the Zintanis' collection. They are now being held at the brigade's Tripoli quarters near the airport road.  It is reported that they were seized after the group left the Algerian-Libyan border zone and headed for Tripoli to demand the money.