20 migrants injured in fight

Twenty illegal immigrants were injured in a short but ferocious fight that broke out between two ethnic groups at the Safi Barracks detention centre yesterday.

A representative of the Jesuit Refugee Service was held hostage for about 15 minutes but was "rescued by prompt action from two AFM Officers", the Armed Forces of Malta said.

The AFM said the trouble was between the Somali group and the Eritrean group within the barracks and was "apparently sparked by women within the groups".

The brawl itself, which started at about 4 p.m., lasted only a couple of minutes. But it was enough to leave three of the immigrants with serious injuries, two with a broken hand and another with a broken leg, said the AFM's public relations officer, Lt Col Mario Schembri.

Immigrants from opposing groups broke off chunks of brick and hurled them at each other, before soldiers quickly intervened to separate the two groups. No AFM personnel were injured.

Thirteen of the immigrants were taken to hospital while seven to the Floriana polyclinic to be treated for slight injuries.

Lt Col Schembri said the hostage was Miriam Consiglio. She was inside the centre carrying out work in support of the immigrants when she was detained in a room by some of them.

She was only released about 15 minutes later, after the fight had subsided, by two AFM personnel who entered the room and took her away forcibly.

"They wanted to make their point and get the other side to relent," said Lt Col Schembri.

The AFM said last night that the situation was under control and the police were investigating.

Ethnic tensions at the Safi refugee detention centre have apparently turned it into a tinderbox ready to ignite. Lt Col Schembri said small matters tended to be blown out of proportion, and with some women now pregnant, the sparks could easily fly.

He confirmed that fights were not an uncommon occurrence. "Some are smaller than others. There is a lot of ethnic tension. They just don't like each other. It has always been like that."

An even more serious incident took place at the Safi Barracks last month, when a Tunisian illegal immigrant who was waiting for a travel document to return home was killed by another immigrant. Police had said he was involved in a fight with another Tunisian.

From time to time immigrants at one of the detention centres have also staged hunger strikes to protest against the length of time they have stayed in detention or against the conditions under which they are held, incidents which only add to the unease.

More than 1,200 illegal immigrants have landed in Malta so far this year, swelling the numbers held at the already overcrowded detention centres.

Another 18 immigrants were on their way to Malta last night after being intercepted by an armed forces patrol boat south of the island.

The AFM were alerted to their four-metre boat by the Italian authorities at about 6.30 p.m. They were reportedly lost at sea.

The migrants are claiming to come from Sudan and Palestine, the AFM said.

The latest illegal immigrant incident was the drama of 13 stowaway Turkish Kurds stranded on a boat for two weeks in appalling conditions after both Malta and Italy refused to take them in. This time the immigrants did not land here, however. The situation was resolved when Italy, their original port of call, finally relented.

A proposal by Italy and France on setting up holding centres in North Africa, in a bid to stem the tide of illegal immigrants to Europe, was stopped dead in its tracks recently when France and Spain opposed.