Italy rescues migrants after delay

Malta stood its ground with Italy yesterday and insisted that two boatloads of 139 illegal migrants found drifting close to Lampedusa were to be rescued by the Italians.

The latter eventually complied although only after a delay, prompting Home Affairs Minister to say later: "You can fool me once but you cannot fool me another time."

He was referring to the run-in between the two countries last week when Italy claimed not to have the assets to rescue 66 migrants in distress off Lampedusa, only to send two naval vessels to block entry to a Maltese patrol boat which had to perform the rescue. The migrants were then brought to Malta.

Yesterday, the incident passed with far less drama, even though Italian media fanned the fire throughout the morning by insisting that Malta should take responsibility for the rescue and for the migrants. At 8 a.m., two boats laden with migrants contacted Palermo's port authorities via satellite phone.

One boat with 65 migrants aboard was drifting some 56 miles off Lampedusa and another carrying 75 migrants was some 45 miles off the Italian island.

The SOS alert was relayed to the Maltese authorities as the boats were in Malta's search and rescue area. Malta, coordinating the operation, then requested the Italian authorities to deploy its assets to carry out the rescue.

However, there was no reply to this request from the Italians, according to sources close to the Maltese coordination centre.

At about 2 p.m. the Italian authorities informed Malta that they had located an Italian cargo vessel 20 miles away from the two boats.

The Maltese, therefore, directed it to change its course and approach the boats.

But despite state-of-the-art equipment on board, the Lia Ievoli said it did not come across the boats and continued on its way to Tunisia.

The migrants were eventually rescued by an Italian Coast Guard vessel and an Italian fishing boat and taken to Lampedusa.

Speaking as the incident was drawing to a close, Minister Mifsud Bonnici insisted that Malta would continue to respect its international obligations and it expected Italy to do the same, as it had done on other occasions over the years. But, he added, "we will stick to our position because we know we are right".

Dr Mifsud Bonnici played down yesterday's incident and refused to define it as another diplomatic row.

He told journalists that Malta remained a friend of Italy as long as the latter did not continue to "steamroll over Malta by playing around with its international obligations".

"We have good relations with Italy but it is making this big issue out of something which last year, the year before, and the year before that, was a daily occurrence.

"Italy changed its tack and is now trying to put Malta in a bad light. This is unacceptable."

Dr Mifsud Bonnici added: "Italy is abdicating its responsibilities and this is our loud and clear message. Malta will continue to coordinate the rescue of migrants in distress in its search and rescue area but these, according to international regulations, will be taken to the closest safe port.

"Saying that Lampedusa is not a safe port is absurd because it's been a safe port for decades. This is not a game of chess between me and (Italian Home Affairs) Minister Roberto Maroni, but a situation which is affecting people's lives."

Referring to Italy's excuse that it did not have vessels to deploy for last week's rescue of 66 migrants, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said: "You can fool me once but you cannot fool me another time."

Yesterday evening, Minister Roberto Maroni told RAI that the rescued migrants could possibly be taken to Libya rather than to Lampedusa.

Diplomatic tensions between the two countries - in which both sides traded accusations of refusing to carry their international responsibilities - were sparked off last month when they both refused to accept more than a hundred migrants rescued by a Turkish ship near Lampedusa.

The stand-off finally came to an end after four days following a telephone conversation between Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. Italy subsequently accepted the migrants - as, Malta argues, it should have done in the first place according to international obligations.

Mr Maroni then raised the case in Brussels in an urgent meeting with Dr Mifsud Bonnici, during which the latter stood his ground and insisted that rescued migrants must be taken to the closest safe port. Italy maintains that Lampedusa is not a safe port.