Malta lambasts Italy's claim

Rescued migrants should not be taken to Lampedusa because it has no hospital and is therefore not a safe port, according to Italy's ambassador to Malta Paolo Trabalza.

He was speaking to The Sunday Times yesterday as Malta and Italy entered a second political dispute in as many weeks over the fate of immigrants rescued off the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Malta accused Italy of breaching international law on Friday after Rome turned back a Maltese patrol with 66 rescued immigrants close to Lampedusa.

The immigrants were picked up from a dinghy by a Maltese patrol boat, after the Italians said they had no rescue vessels to mount a rescue. But when the Maltese patrol boat approached Italian territorial waters, it was intercepted by two Italian vessels and told not to proceed further.

Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said the Italians' argument did not hold water because the island had been considered a safe port for decades.

"How can it be that it's not safe anymore? Is it just because Minister Roberto Maroni is in charge? I'm sure there is some sort of hospital to serve the inhabitants of the island," Dr Borg said.

Italy's argument was also challenged by a maritime law expert, who said port safety had nothing to do with hospitals.

"When we talk of a safe port we are talking about the facilities to berth safely. If you're going to interpret that in a wider context for political reasons, you can go to the extreme and say that there needs to be an airport as well."

A source who works with migrants in Lampedusa said that although there was no hospital, there was a health centre that dealt with medical issues. However, during summer this comes under a lot of pressure because of the increased migrant arrivals.

When asked why Lampedusa had suddenly become unsafe, Dr Trabalza insisted that things do change.

He said that Lampedusa, which is three times smaller than Gozo, did not even have a proper permanent doctor, an issue which the inhabitants had often complained about since they must be transferred to Sicily whenever they require medical attention.

Malta is bound by international laws which state that people rescued at sea must be taken to the nearest safe port. Italy insists they should be taken to the country responsible for search and rescue according to its conventions.

Despite the international squabble between Italy and Malta, Dr Borg maintained that it was still a dispute between friends.

"I believe this is all happening because of a certain element within the Italian government. I still believe there are a lot of reasonable people there. I hope it does not affect our friendship because it is a very real and long-standing friendship."

On Friday, Dr Borg presented an official protest to the ambassador asking Italy to take back the rescued immigrants and dismissed Italy's claim of not having enough vessels as not credible.

But Dr Trabalza thinks otherwise.

"Of course it could have happened. Why should we always think of the worst?" the ambassador said.

The only thing Dr Trabalza and Dr Borg agreed upon was that these kinds of incidents help both countries make their case to the EU for more assistance and responsibility-sharing between the other 25 member states.

cperegin@timesofmalta.com