Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/464575
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 2015 7 News ground? US Embassy cables released to Mal- taToday through a 2006 Freedom of Information request to the Depart- ment of State have revealed that the Maltese government provided the US with the approval for emergency land- ing for all military aircraft carrying either hazardous material or suspect personnel, in its support of the war against terrorism. The most significant contributions, as stated in the cables, came in the form of "approval of over-flight for all military aircraft, approval for emer- gency landing for all military aircraft, approval for emergency landing for all military aircraft including those with hazardous material or suspect per- sonnel, use of the Malta Drydocks for routine and emergency repairs of US navy ships, and full security support for visiting US navy ships". Malta's cooperation with the United States escalated considerably after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Cen- tre. In 2004, Malta became the first EU member to install the Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System (PISCES) at its airport and three seaports, as part of the United States Terrorist Interdic- tion Programme (TIP). The $1.5 mil- lion system is a border control tool that identifies wanted criminal and terrorist suspects as they enter and exit the country. But this suggests that rather than formal membership in US-led coali- tions, what really could undermine Maltese national sovereignty are the bilateral concessions made by the na- tional government in its dealings with the USA. The coalition and Libya Another question is whether join- ing the coalition against IS would strengthen Malta's call for interna- tional intervention in Libya. Libya has so far been largely ignored by the coalition, which has focused its operations in Syria and Iraq. This has prompted calls by Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has told the US that its coalition to defeat the Islamic State group should be expanded to counter "terrorist hotbeds" across the Middle East and Africa. Malta's membership in the co- alition could pile pressure on widen- ing the coalition's sight from Iraq and Syria to Libya. But the involvement in Libya of a US-led coalition may well play in the hands of IS, which portrays the west as a crusading entity. Malta's constitutional neutrality Another question is whether mem- bership in a coalition against a terror- ist group qualifies as membership of a military alliance, something which is ruled out by the constitution. The constitution proclaims that Malta is a neutral state which "ac- tively pursues peace, security and social progress among all nations", a principle which militates in favour of participation in a coalition against an organisation bent at undermining peace and co-existence like IS. But the same constitution also makes it clear that Malta should not participate in any military alliance and that no foreign military base should be permitted on Maltese ter- ritory. But the constitution does make an important exception allowing the use of military facilities in Malta "in pursuance of measures or actions de- cided by the Security Council of the United Nations". This means that Malta can participate in any military action against IS which is authorised by the United Nations. In fact both government and opposition have em- phasised a logistical role for Malta in any intervention. Therefore the constitution does not ban participation in the coalition against IS as long as this participation is limited to actions authorised by the UN. PN foreign policy shadow minister Roberta Metsola has adhered to Mal- ta's constitutional neutrality, arguing that Malta should participate in "non- military" action against Islamic State and that neutrality does not hinder the fight against terrorism. But the PN is committed in its elec- toral manifesto to revise the neutral- ity provision in the constitution. The Constitution's major shortcom- ing is the reference to two superpow- ers in one of its clauses, drawn up in Soviet Union days, which denies ac- cess to the Maltese shipyards to ves- sels belonging to the United States and the former Soviet Union. A brainchild of Dom Mintoff who envisioned Malta's role as a Switzer- land in the Mediterranean back in 1958, neutrality was enshrined by the Labour government in the Maltese Constitution in 1987 in a tit-for-tat deal with the Nationalist opposition in return for accepting the notion of majority rule in the same Constitu- tion. A convert to neutrality by necessity rather than conviction, the National- ist Party, which before 1971 wanted Malta to join NATO, refrained from any formal attempt to change the sta- tus quo after being elected in 1987. While supporting the overthrow of Gaddafi, Malta also refrained from supporting military action against Libya in 2011. Now both parties agree that Malta should offer logistical sup- port to a UN authorised intervention. But this will depend on whether any- one will be willing to send boots on the ground, something which Malta has already excluded. General Khalifa Haftar