The aim, for Vanuatu, was twofold: first, to obtain access to favourable economic relations with a major oil-producing country, and second, to strengthen its policy of non-alignment by establishing relations with a notable country not aligned with the Western Bloc.

[1] Time magazine described Libya's reasons for establishing relations with Vanuatu as "unclear", suggesting that it might simply wish to "irritate the U.S. and France".

Barak Sopé added that "the United States were wrong, they behaved as terrorists and aggressors", and that "the CIA is involved in all sorts of similar activities.

[2][3][4][5] The country's relations with Libya proved politically contentious in Vanuatu, including within the ruling Vanua'aku Party.

The debate appeared to explain Lini's eventual decision to "postpone indefinitely" the projected opening of a Libyan People's Bureau in Port Vila.