We are not stupid, your Excellency

The barbed wire around the Libyan embassy in Attard is taking its toll on the state of mind of it's resident, his Excellency Saadun Suayeh. Suffering from diplomatic cabin fever, he is losing his grip on reality beyond the wire.

Unlike many of his Libyan diplomatic colleagues around the world, Suayeh has not resigned from his post. In other words, he has not cut himself off from the putrid, murderous, almost genocidal Gaddafi mafia still under siege in Tripoli. Why?

He claims to represent the Libyan people in their "legitimate struggle for freedom and democracy” and the state “as a sovereign entity under international law", not the blood-stained crackpot regime. At the same time he graciously calls on us to see him as “a supra-political figure” with a mission to "depoliticise" the embassy.

To peddle this line, the Libyan ambassador must think that Malta is populated by a bunch of illiterate peasants. Gaddafi's Libya was never a state in anything approaching a European sense. And it certainly is not now that the Libyan people are denuding it of its fake and ugly legitimacy in the bright desert sun.

Before the popular uprising, the Libyan regime survived only by making every decision political, as all dictatorships do. The country is now in a state of civil war, a revolution to overthrow the Gaddafi mafia. And a revolution is the ultimate political act. Contrary to what the Libyan ambassador thinks, there is no neutral political position available for him to take. Italy is playing England in a world cup final and the ambassador wants to side with the referee. It's simply non-sensical.

If the ambassador is not doing his bit to quicken the overthrow of the regime, he is helping it. By not resigning, his Excellency Saadun Suayeh is choosing the latter. He could tattoo the words "supra-political figure" to his chest. But as long as he remains in his post, he is a Gaddafi stooge.

The Libyan embassy at present does not represent the people or the state of Libya. It is still a branch office of the Gaddafi family. And the ambassador's paycheque is still signed in the blood of Gaddafi's victims. That is why the ambassador is flying the regime's green flag over his embassy's roof, not the people's red, black and green one.

If his Excellency wants to help his fellow Libyans, the only principled course of action is for him to resign. By not doing so he continues to shade the murderous Gaddafi mafia from the Libyan people's bright desert sun. When he says that he might need "to take a stand at some point" he is insulting the memory of his compatriots who have lost their lives on the battlefield. Incidentally, he is also insulting our intelligence.