Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/608340
4 News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 29 NOVEMBER 2015 4 News Queen waits in vain for Busuttil due to mix-up MIRIAM DALLI THE clock had struck 2pm on Friday at San Anton Palace where Her Maj- esty Queen Elizabeth was to give an audience to Opposition leader Simon Busuttil. The meeting never took place. Informed sources who worked closely with Buckingham Palace and the British High Commission in prep- aration for the royal visit, told Malta- Today that the Queen was expected to meet Busuttil, but the PN leader was on his way to Canada. Busuttil left Malta on Friday to ad- dress a Vancouver conference on the fight against diabetes. In preparation for the royal visit, the Opposition was asked whether Busut- til would like to meet the Queen. On his part, Busuttil requested to meet UK Prime Minister David Cameron. The meeting never took place either. The Queen's diary and programme were strictly handled by Buckingham Palace, preparing everything to the minute detail and following a very strict schedule. The British side had also scheduled a meeting between the Queen and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at 2:20pm, allowing her 20-minutes with Busuttil. On Friday afternoon, staff at the Of- fice of the President started to panic when Busuttil failed to turn up for the meeting. After several attempts to make contact with the PN leader, his personal assistant informed the star- tled staff that Busuttil was on his way to Canada. A PN spokesperson insisted they had informed the British side that Busuttil would not be able to attend the meeting because of his planned visit to Canada. "Simon Busuttil was scheduled to travel to Canada on Friday morning to address an inter- national conference in Vancouver on the fight against diabetes. A meeting between Prime Minister Cameron and the Leader of the Opposition was not logistically possible during the summit due to conflicting travel ar- rangements of the two leaders. "Regarding the meeting with the Queen there was a change of arrange- ments. Her Majesty met the Leader of the Opposition at a reception on Thursday evening." David Cameron stresses need to replace 'ISIS recruiter' Assad TIM DIACONO DESCRIBING Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the recruit- ment sergeant of Islamic State (ISIS), British Prime Minister David Cameron said his country cannot wait any longer to carry out military interventions in the war-torn country "to keep Europe safe". While insisting that British military action should only target ISIS, Cameron said Assad is "act- ing like a recruitment sergeant" for the Islamist group by savagely bombing his people and warned that the President cannot be in- cluded in any long-term strategy for stability in Syria. The British Premier expressed hope that the military operations and parallel diplomatic efforts by Britain, France and other allies will hasten the creation of a tran- sitional Syrian government which would represent all minorities, including the Kurdish people. "While military action is neces- sary, it by itself will not succeed in defeating ISIS, and must form part of a wider strategy that in- cludes the future reconstruction of Syria when the war is over," he said. Turning to Libya, Cameron said ISIS was taking advantage of the political vacuum in the North African country and said the in- ternational community requires a unity government to "counter terrorism." Together with former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Cam- eron was among the principal sponsors of the NATO inter- vention in 2011 which led to the ousting of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. "There is no doubt that extrem- ist groups take advantage of un- governed space, so we require a partner in Libya with whom we can work to help prevent the threat of terrorism," he said. Cameron, in Malta for the CHOGM summit, called on the Commonwealth to take an active role in fighting violent extrem- ism. "We must expose it for what it is, which is a system that divides communities and glorifies vio- lence," he said. "We must start ac- tively encouraging reformist and moderate Muslim voices to tackle the extremists themselves, an is- sue I discussed with [Pakistani Prime Minister] Nawaz Sharif." 'Commonwealth must start holding its members to account' Cameron sounded an optimis- tic tone on the Commonwealth's future, insisting that it can be "a force for good". However, he warned that it must start holding to account its mem- bers "who fail to live up to their responsibilities", singling out the Maldives, where crowds have re- cently taken to the streets to pro- test against the jailing of political leaders, including the current op- position leader. "What is going on in the Mal- dives is unacceptable," he said. Cameron also urged the Com- monwealth to safeguard LGBTI+ rights, the expression of which is illegal in 41 of the 53 Common- wealth nations, and to play a lead- ing role in the fight against cor- ruption. 'Commonwealth must start holding to account members who fail to live up to their responsibilities' Sandro Chetcuti on Reporter, tomorrow AN uncompromising charac- ter who has made his candid talk on the construction indus- try his hallmark, Sandro Chet- cuti, the president of the Malta Developers Association will be interviewed tomorrow on Re- porter by Saviour Balzan. Reporter airs on TVM on Mondays at 10:05pm, with a repeat on Tuesday at 1pm. Also interviewed will be Paul Fenech, chairman of the Val- letta Republic Street Business Community, who will talk about business in the capital city, as well as competition from businesses in differ- ent areas and whether public transport reform is having an impact on business in Val- letta. British Prime Minister David Cameron addressing a press conference in Malta PHOTO Chirs Mangion Sandro Chetcuti