How Malta And Libya Turned Geography Into Leverage
The killing of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi this week has reopened long-standing questions in Libya about how — or whether — the country has ever fully come to terms with the…
The killing of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi this week has reopened long-standing questions in Libya about how — or whether — the country has ever fully come to terms with the Gaddafi era. More than a decade after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya remains divided, its political order fragmented and its relationship with its own past unsettled. In Malta, the news has also revived memories of a period when Libya was not a distant neighbour or a migration route, but a regular diplomatic presence — embodied most visibly by Gaddafi’s repeated visits to the island.
For more than a decade, Gaddafi came to Malta often, publicly and with purpose. These were not courtesy stopovers. They coincided with moments when both countries were repositioning themselves, and when geography offered leverage that politics alone could not.
Malta, newly independent and preparing for the departure of British military forces, needed economic support and diplomatic room to manoeuvre. Libya, increasingly isolated but flush with oil wealth, needed access to Europe and partners willing to treat it as more than a problem to be contained. In the central Mediterranean, each found something useful in the other.
Early Visits And A Relationship Takes Shape
Gaddafi’s first visits to Malta in 1973 and 1974 took place as the country was reassessing its post-colonial future. Under Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, Malta was deliberately widening its diplomatic options, signalling that independence would not simply mean swapping one set of dependencies for another.
Libya offered loans, energy supplies and economic backing at a time when Malta was negotiating the loss of British base revenues. Malta offered Libya something rarer: political legitimacy in a European setting, without the automatic alignments that characterised Cold War diplomacy.
These early visits were exploratory, but they established a pattern that would define the relationship for the next decade.
From Diplomacy To Public Alignment
By the mid-1970s, Gaddafi’s visits had taken on a far more visible and symbolic character.
His 1976 state visit was marked by rallies, public appearances and the awarding of national honours. The message was not subtle. Malta was asserting its autonomy from traditional Western power centres, while Libya was demonstrating that it could cultivate relationships inside Europe on its own terms.
The relationship extended beyond economics and protocol. During this period, Arabic began to be formally taught in Maltese secondary schools, introduced through educational cooperation agreements with Libya. Libyan teachers were brought to Malta, textbooks were supplied from Tripoli, and high-performing students were offered study visits to Libya.
The policy was controversial, particularly when Arabic was made compulsory for a time. Critics argued it politicised education and overstated cultural proximity. Supporters saw it as a corrective to Malta’s long-standing tendency to downplay its Mediterranean and Semitic heritage. Either way, it marked one of the clearest examples of how political alignment translated into lasting cultural and institutional change.
Concrete Ties And Cultural Footprints
Gaddafi’s 1978 visit illustrated how the relationship was beginning to move from symbolism to permanence.
Libyan involvement in major projects left visible marks on Malta’s landscape, most notably the foundations of what would become the Mariam Al-Batool Mosque and Islamic Centre in Paola. Gaddafi’s visit to Gozo during this period further underlined the importance both sides attached to the relationship.
These developments coincided with a growing Libyan presence in Malta through diplomatic staff, workers and students. While the numbers were never large, the impact was disproportionate, contributing to broader debates about Maltese identity, religion and Malta’s place between Europe and North Africa.
1979 And The Limits Of Proximity
The relationship reached its most symbolic moment in 1979, when Gaddafi was the only foreign leader present for celebrations marking the closure of British military bases in Malta.
For the Mintoff government, the event underscored Malta’s claim to neutrality and independence. For Gaddafi, it offered a public association with a European state asserting sovereignty outside NATO’s framework.
Yet proximity also brought friction. Disputes over maritime boundaries and offshore oil exploration exposed the limits of alignment and reminded both sides that geography could generate tension as easily as cooperation.
Formalising And Moving On
Gaddafi’s later visits in the early 1980s were quieter, more procedural and increasingly focused on consolidating what already existed. This phase culminated in the 1984 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, which formalised political, economic and cultural ties while recognising Malta’s neutrality.
Not long after, the visits stopped. Political change in Malta, Libya’s growing international isolation and shifting regional dynamics altered the tone of the relationship. Gaddafi would not return.
What Remains
Four decades on, and with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi now dead, that period feels decisively historical. Yet its traces remain — in infrastructure, in educational policy, in cultural memory, and in Malta’s enduring familiarity with Libya as more than a distant neighbour.
For a time, Malta and Libya were not simply connected by geography. They used it, deliberately and pragmatically, at a moment when both were looking for leverage in a changing Mediterranean.
That calculation shaped a relationship whose effects outlasted the visits themselves.
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