Misguided missile hit?
Rome’s ex-prime minister blames Paris for plane crash
2023-09-02 7:04 p.m
Myths surround the crash of a passenger plane over an island near Sicily in the summer of 1980: Was there a skirmish between the Libyan Air Force and NATO? Did a bomb go off on board? Former Italian Prime Minister Amato has his own thesis as to why 81 people died back then.
More than 40 years after the mysterious crash of an Italian passenger plane that killed 81 people, the case is making headlines again. Former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato blamed France in the daily La Repubblica and demanded an apology. Amato argued that the machine had been hit by a misguided French missile. The original plan was to kill the then Libyan ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi on board a fighter jet.
The Itavia plane crashed on June 27, 1980 near the small Italian island of Ustica in the Mediterranean Sea. None of the 81 people on board the DC9 survived. To this day it is not clear what actually happened. In addition to the thesis of an accidental shoot-down, there is also speculation about an air battle between aircraft from the Libyan Air Force and NATO machines and a bomb hidden on board.
“Most Likely Variant”
There have already been several court proceedings on this without clarity being created. Amato, now 85, worked on the case within the government before he became prime minister in 1992/93 and 2000/01 in the mid-1980s. The now non-party politician told the “Repubblica” in an interview that the “most likely variant” is that the passenger plane was accidentally shot down by a French fighter jet. Amato appealed to current President Emmanuel Macron to apologize on behalf of France. “The continued silence doesn’t seem like a solution to me.”
Regarding Amato’s comments, the French Foreign Ministry said that France had provided the available information whenever it was asked about the tragedy. Of course we remain willing to work together on the topic. Italy’s current right-wing government took note of Amato’s statements with interest. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke of “important statements that deserve attention”. At the same time, she made it clear that these were Amato’s “personal conclusions” and not the opinion of her government. Her Vice Matteo Salvini asked Paris to comment.