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Neutrality favoured by majority, 64% against returning Gaddafi jets
A Mediatoday survey for Illum has found almost two-thirds of respondents in agreement with the Maltese government’s stand on not returning the two Mirage jets that flew to Malta after their pilots deserted Col. Muammar Gaddafi.
The fighter pilots, who are seeking asylum in Malta, absconded Libyan airspace after allegedly being given orders to bombard protestors in Benghazi on 21 February.
Since then, Libya has made two attempts at recovering the jets: the first was on 22 February, when one of three jets owned by a Libyan Arab Airlines and Al Afriquiyah subsidiary, asked for diplomatic clearance to land in Malta. Permission was denied, and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi later revealed he had “no doubt in his mind” that the jet carried emissaries from Gaddafi wanting to take the fighter jets home.
Then on Friday this week, Gonzi said that he had spoken to Libyan counterpart Mahmoud el Baghdadi, who came to Malta on another private jet, and refused to return the jets in return for the release of a Dutch crew captured by the Libyan army during an evacuation mission.
The Mediatoday survey shows that only 12% of respondents want to have the jets returned, as suggested by former Labour prime minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici who wants Malta to mediate in the Libyan civil conflict.
