Flights from Russia, Libya, US flew to Malta for pact on Libya – report

Delegates from Russia, Libya, the United States, Turkey and Qatar flew to Malta this week for an international meeting, according to a report by news station Libya 24.

The London-based news portal said the meeting focused on the way forward in “sharing the Libyan cake” and was held in the presence of representatives from both parties in the Libyan conflict – under Fayez al-Sarraj and Khalifa Haftar.

There were no public announcements by the Maltese government about this meeting.

The aim of the meeting was to discuss the sharing of the country’s wealth between conflicting parties, as well as to define each party’s control, according to the news portal’s sources.

The agreement, based on a previous understanding that took place between Turkish and Russian delegates, “weakens the army, aborts its progress and victories on the ground in the way of liberating Tripoli, and makes it hostage to international understandings”.

Oh look…two more private jets. Who is flying in and out? pic.twitter.com/5TKKTVTvTQ

— elpierre (@elpierre23) May 20, 2020

A plane carrying delegates took off and returned to Libya after its arrival in Malta and then moved in the direction of Malta again, indicating the reluctance of Haftar’s representatives to agree to this suspicious agreement, the report said.

Questions were raised on social media as Maltese citizens followed flights coming in and out of the island through online flight trackers, especially given that airports have been shut due to the coronavirus outbreak.

One of the aircrafts, the GLF5 jet (pictured in the post above by a Maltese citizen), was also tracked by Libya24 to have flown from the United States, while other screenshots published in the report show flights from Libya and Russia.

The Shift has sent questions on the meeting to Foreign Affairs Minister Evarist Bartolo.