VALLETTA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Malta's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Friday that a 42-year-old Maltese worker has been abducted last Thursday by Libyan rebel militias outside Tripoli, capital of war-torn Libya.
Martin Galea, a retired captain of the Armed Forces, was abducted by rebel militia while he was on his way to work at a site managed by his company Nageco on the outskirts of Tripoli on July 17. He was in a car driven by a Libyan national, but the car was stopped at a road block and Galea was taken away.
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Friday evening that he could not give assurance that whether Galea was alive, but the last information he had showed he was. "The situation was, however, constantly evolving", said the PM.
It is reported that despite interventions by the Foreign Ministry in Libya, particularly through Malta's embassy in Tripoli, no contact has yet been established with the abducted Maltese citizen.
The family members of the abducted man are devastated and desperate for information on him after the abduction happened 8 days ago.
Both Maltese police and the Foreign Ministry were informed about the case last week.
The news comes as Parliament is expected to discuss the latest developments in Libya on Friday evening, following a motion by the Nationalist Party (PN) to hold an urgent debate on the situation.
PM Joseph Muscat told Parliament the government was informed of the abduction last Sunday, first by a colleague and later by Galea's partner. It immediately started working through the police and the diplomatic service to contact the person or its abductors. The government's priority was to ensure that Galea was safe and that his life was not in danger.
Malta's Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella said this evening that the government is monitoring the situation in Libya "hour to hour".
Meanwhile, an official from the Office of Prime Minister revealed that an emergency inter-ministerial committee has been meeting regularly for the past two weeks. The committee is setting up a contingency plan for the eventuality of a full-scale evacuation. The Armed Forces, Police, Civil Protection Department and Health Authorities are involved in these talks. Government officials are monitoring the situation in Libya on a 24/7 basis. Virtu Ferries has been keeping a vessel on stand-by for the eventuality of a mass evacuation from Tripoli.
Intense fighting has been going on in Tripoli since July 13, when armed Islamist groups launched attacks against Tripoli International Airport and some key road intersections there were previously held by pro-secular Zintan militia. In Libya's second largest city of Benghazi, armed clashes has been on a daily basis since renegade General Khalifa Haftar launched his so-called anti-terrorism Operation Dignity in May to constantly pound Islamist militants.
Some local media outlets have reported rising concerns that the ongoing clashes throughout major Libyan cities could easily devolve into a civil war.
The North African country has seen a drastic escalation of violence and political instability since the toppling of Libya's former leader Muammar Gaddafi. Libya's central government has failed to control the former rebels and militia, many of whom now operate with impunity.
|
