Royal Navy leaves Malta after 180 years
By
GEOFFREY GROVES
in Valletta
To Premier Dom Mintoff and his ruling Malta Labour Party the end of his island’s 180-year military' association with Britain last week marked “freedom day.”
The Royal Navy destroyer H.M.S. London, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Oswald Cecil, the last British flag officer to serve on Malta, sailed ceremoniously out of Grand Harbour to the cheers of thousands of Maltese who turned out to wave the British a final goodbye. Mr Mintoff’s dedication to turning Malta into an independent neutral State capable of earning its own keep dates back to 1958 when his plans to integrate Malta with Britain failed. As his first Government resigned, Mr Mintoff demanded complete independence from Britain.
Due largely to a bitter 13year feud with the then powerful Catholic Church, Mr Mintoff’s Labour Party was still on the opposition benches when the Nationalist Premier, Dr George Borg Olivier, negotiated independence in 1964. Mr Mintoff objected that the economic and military pacts signed then still restricted Malta’s freedom to chart its own future.
In 1971, immediately on regaining power, Mr Mintoff began the process that has now ended Britain’s military status in Malta. Mr Mintoff wants to find a new identity for Malta which could lead to a reduction of military tensions, principally in the Mediterranean. His over-all objective is to secure the departure of both American and Soviet fleets from the Mediterranean.
The first steps in this are to persuade European States to pay more attention to Mediterranean problems. Following a six-week meeting of experts on the Mediterranean from the 35 European countries who attended the Helsinki Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (C.S.C.E.), agreement was reached at the end of March on a number of schemes aimed at promoting greater regional collaboration.
Only Israel and Egypt, from a list of eight nonEuropean Mediterranean States invited, eventually agreed to participate, but Malta is trying to organise separate conferences where Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Syria, Lebanon and Morocco — possibly with the partici-
pation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation —- can discuss the same projects. Malta’s new-found neutrality is not without its problems and the first problem is to secure its own sovereignty. For as long as British troops were based on the island the prospect of outside aggression was almost non-existent. Now Malta has become practically defenceless. Mr Mintoff has so far abortively tried to unite France, Italy, Algeria and Libya in a pact that would guarantee Malt’s security. So far only Libya has made any promises. The Opposition Nationalist Party headed by Mr Eddie Fenech Adami, whose electoral strength almost equals that of the Labour Party, is unhappy with this liquid situation and wants Europe to safeguard Malta’s independence exclusively. The Nationalists fear that Malta could easily become an outpost for Libya, particularly if it were to provide most of the S7OM the island will now lose every year as a result of the British pull-out. When some 1000 Libyan students living in Malta marched down Valletta’s Re-
public Street in protest against Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s deal with Israel, Nationalist M.P., Dr Josie Muscat, warned Mr Mintoff to protect Malta’s
sovereignty. In the immediate future Malta seems to face no dramatic problems, particularly as long as its economy keeps growing. But in the
long term, to borrow a phrase from Mr Mintoff’s own economic development plan which expired on Saturday, “the future beckons.” — 0.F.N.5., Copyright.
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Press, 17 April 1979, Page 16
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572Royal Navy leaves Malta after 180 years Press, 17 April 1979, Page 16
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