Search for migrants' boat proves futile

The search for a boat carrying 25 illegal immigrants, which sent out a distress call last Thursday, has been called off, the army said yesterday.

An accompanying boat has reportedly returned safely to Libya.

The alarm was raised by a resident at the Marsa open centre who, on Saturday, also informed the army that one of the boats had made it back to Libya. There was, however, no news about the other boat, which had also been reported to be in trouble some 47 miles off the Libyan coast. Persons on the boats had been in contact with acquaintances through satellite phones.

"For the Armed Forces of Malta, this case is closed," an army spokesman told The Times yesterday.

Although the boats had been reported to be rather close to the Libyan coast, the North African country had refused to dispatch search vessels, because of rough seas. An Iranian freighter, steaming 26 miles away, also refused to go to the migrants' assistance, the master fearing that the migrants might be armed, the AFM said.

Libya sent a search aircraft a day and a half after the immigrants sent their first distress call but nothing was found. Libya has still not confirmed the reported boat's return.

In a separate development, the AFM said it had been notified by Rome that a foreign national in Italy had advised the Italian search and rescue authorities that a boat with an estimated 300 persons on board had left the Libyan port of Zuwarah, heading north. An AFM search aircraft conducted a search but it did not come across it.

It has been confirmed that the second Frontex anti-immigration operation in the central Mediterranean will start on June 22, but Italy has still not yet accepted to participate.

Frontex director Ilkka Laitinen explained the border agency's role ahead of the Regulation on Rapid Border Intervention Teams (Rabits) that is expected to be adopted by the EU's Justice and Home Affairs Council tomorrow.

He said Frontex was not and would never be a panacea to problems of illegal migration. With just 82 people and a budget of €35 million, the agency could not assume the duty of hundreds of thousands of EU border guards, Mr Laitinen said.

"Maybe our activities in the Mediterranean do not seem sufficient for some people, but we have to act in accordance with the legal mandate we have, and within the fixed financial limitations we have, not to mention the human resources and the willingness of member states to act together."

He insisted that Frontex did not have any monopoly on border protection and was not omnipotent. It was merely a coordinator of the operational cooperation in which member states show their volition.

"If some of our critics think it is not enough, they should set their eyes on decision takers," Mr Laitinen said.

Rabits is a very good instrument for providing support for a limited period of time in "exceptional and urgent situations", he added.

He pointed out that Frontex itself did not have any vessels and could not afford major deployment to a chosen region. Its assets belonged to the member states and it was subject to their will to deploy them.

Member states wanted Frontex to become a search and rescue body but lawyers could have problems explaining why a community agency should take action in an area that was out of the mandate not only of the agency but also the EU's, Mr Laitinen said.

The raison d'être of Frontex was not emergency operations but the consistent introduction of well-planned regular patrols by member states in order to limit urgent missions and to integrate the management of borders.

"Doctors say the best intensive care unit cannot replace prophylaxis; I would say that it applies also to borders."

During tomorrow's council meeting, Malta will be tabling its proposals for Europe-wide burden sharing of migrants rescued in international waters. The island is also expected to fall under scrutiny for the way it has dealt with a number of immigrant emergencies recently.