Monday, 26th October 2009 - 10:30CET

Libya arrests two for organising migrants' crossing

Migrants refused Maltese assistance

The Libyan police, assisted by Italian officials, have arrested two men suspected of having organised the crossing of 200 migrants from Libya to Italy over the past few days.

The two, a 26-year-old man from Eritrea and the Libyan boat owner were arrested at the same time as Italy assumed responsibility for the migrants off Portopalo.

The boat was first spotted in the Libyan Rescue Region, 70 miles north of Benghazi on Friday afternoon. The alert was raised when somebody on board used a satellite phone to inform a migrant in Italy, who in turn informed the Italian authorities and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

A Libyan warship which was meant to pick up the migrants yesterday did not show up.

The Italian authorities had directed an Italian tanker, the Antignano, to provide lee shelter to the migrants' boat, since it was too difficult to transfer anybody on board because of the rough sea.The boat transited the Maltese Search and Rescue Zone but the Maltese authorities insisted that the migrants were not in distress or in immediate danger.

Informed sources close to the rescue operation reported that once the Antignano intercepted the migrants’ boat, Rome SRR Centre gave it instructions to sail into the Maltese search and rescue area, despite the fact that the closest port of call at the time was the Libyan port of Benghazi.

The boat meanwhile drifted closer to the Italian search and rescue zone, with the tanker and a Maltese patrol boat close by. The captain of the tanker confirmed to Italian media that the migrants refused offers of assistance from the Maltse patrol boat because they wanted to get to Italy.

The Italian tug boat reached the migrants at 1.15 this afternoon.

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Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Saturday, November 21, 2009. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Comments

Ronald Zarb (3 weeks, 3 days ago)

With friends like Libya and Italy, Malta does not need enemies. The Italian government stops Tripoli from allowing immigrants from leaving it's shore, thereby, ensuring that immigrants would leave from Libyian territory, thus the immigrants have to travel through Maltese water search and rescue area and would become Maltese responsibility.
How could Libya allow these southern African immigrants free passage across it's vast deserts without any passports or documents? How could these people know where to purchase boats and passage to Europe? Who is financing their expenses?
I SMELL A RAT.

W Spencer (3 weeks, 3 days ago)

@ John Richards

The " reasonable, enlightened people " you mention, are the people who do not live in Towns & Cities in the UK that have ' no go areas ' to white people.

It has always been evident that the " left " conceal the truth about most things.

Christian Sciberras (3 weeks, 3 days ago)

Ah, e ora sono l'Italiani i vittimi dei refugiati?

Well, if they want to feel proud of hosting the refugees, they can take them all of them anytime.

And people want to join the arrogant Italian? Here's a transcript from Il Coriere:
"As usual, it's Italy that does a difference".

Right!

C.R Taliana (3 weeks, 4 days ago)

Nista nkun naf jekk il-forzi armati ta' Malta jistghux jirrekordjaw u jigbdu videos ta' dawn l-immigranti fejn jidhru li qeghdin jirrifjutaw l-ghajnuna Maltija???? Ghax ser nasal biex nibda nahseb li allura taghna qeghdin jigdbu. Jekk minn naha tal-Gvern mhux ser inqumu fuq taghna allura ser nibda nemmen lit-Taljani jiena! Ghax kull darba jwahhlu f'Malta li ma tridx toffri ghajnuna.

E. Azzopardi (3 weeks, 4 days ago)

The evening news on Rete 4 stated more than once that Malta refused to take the illegal immigrants as it was our duty to do. They never said what is said here.

Mark Galea (3 weeks, 4 days ago)

@Igalea
Agree with you that a "Mintoff-style Prime minister" might solve the immigration problem ... our country would be in such a ruin that we would be so hungry that we might start considering immigrants ... and immigrants would give malta a very wide berth ... :)

Igalea, please make concrete suggestions.

C.Zarb (3 weeks, 4 days ago)

@ Mr Ellis

I am sure that if the Northern European countries took responsibility of the immigrants in the same way they took responsibility of their homeland's resources, things would have gone much more smoothly. Unfortunately, its not the case and while our 'brothers' hide behind the Dublin convention and laugh at our MP's suggestion of Obligatory burden sharing, countries like Libya and Malta are ending up footing the bill.

Europe was responsible of many crimes which include a long history of slavery, colonisation and 2 world wars and yet its considered as the bastion of human rights. Stating that whenever Malta or Libya don't do what is expected out of them then hell go loose. Its quite ironic isn't it?

pat camilleri (3 weeks, 4 days ago)

I have been following aghast ,the revelations on the British Newspapers, how Blair and Brown allowed the country to be invaded by immigrants to encourage a multicultural society. I have lived in England for many years and have seen the change taking place.Blair and Brown are a shameful pair ,who have helped to destroy a once great country. Foreigners in the uk have more rights that the indigenous population.Malta must resist immigration.We do not want a multicultural society.Dr Gonzi please take note.

N. Bonello (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

Regarding the issue of 'Search and Rescue Area' and finding 'Oil'.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I cannot see how our large Search and Rescue Area has ANYTHING to do with claiming Oil within these waters.

Search and Rescue area is that - the trouble it has caused and the MONEY it brings. (1) from Flight control fees and (2) from EU funds for operations eg. Part funding for new toys like patrol boats and helicopters.

Finding of Oil falls under the boundaries between countries and is not (as far as I know) influenced by the Search and Rescue Area.

Could someone in authority once and for all please enlighten us on the two. I have never heard anyone in authority explain the difference/similarity as it seems to be convenient to have confusion on the subject. Please lets not play their game of ping-ponging of 'opinions'. We demand the real story - we deserve it !

Joseph Cachia (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

@ J. ELLIS
This is MALTA , we don' t want these burdens. We don't want these people among us nor
any help from any source in order to accept them.

lgalea (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

Alfred Pace
We should NEVER reduce our S&R area but must deny and continue to deny the landing of any illegal immigrants in Malta. All illegal immigrants must also be sent back to Libya or to their own countries. This is OUR country NOT theirs.

Stephen Farrugia( Rightwing)
No stephen, we do not need any foreign armies or bases. What we need is a Mintoff-style Prime minister who sends ALL illegal immigrants not the incompetent eunoch that we presently have. If you even look at eu economic data http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/4-23102009-AP/EN/4-23102009-AP-EN.PDF you will see that Malta is the only country with NO DATA available.

lgalea (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

Joseph Ellis
Stop putting religion into the equation. The vast majority of Maltese citizens are so fed up with illegal immigrants that they want every single one expelled from Malta.

Joseph Ellis (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

This boat is overflowing with migrants : quite a change from the previous boat where only 5 migrants had survived but which we were assured us that it was too clean to have had more migrants on board. http://palermo.repubblica.it/dettaglio/immigrati-in-difficolta-barcone-con-200-a-bordo/1760052 http://www.corriere.it/cronache/09_ottobre_26/sciacca-immigrati-barcone_9ff51c3c-c21a-11de-b592-00144f02aabc.shtml The only similarity is that our armed forces never seem to establish that these migrants are in imminent danger. I crossed from Gozo to Malta on Saturday and I never saw the ferry that is now in service toss so much in the seas. But for the AFM, the weather conditions did not pose any problem and Malta could delegate its humanitarian responsibilities to Libya. Libya, as usual, did not live to its international obligations in keeping with the Islamic tenets of solidarity and neither did Malta with our ultra-Catholic version of the same. And the Italians ended carrying the can.

Stephen Farrugia (Sliema) (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

@ Everyone who answered me I said British military base because it was Gaddafi that made a deal with Mintoff to remove the base, in exchange for trade and assistance. The Libyans never played honestly or correctly with Malta, only trouble. We should revise our situation with them and have a military solution of ANY sort. Stephen Farrugia

John azzopardi (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

Does malta ever assist in human trafficking. It is hard to believe that after receiving 18,000 migrants over a 9 year period, no one has provided any information. could it be incompetance on the government side. Human trafficking is against the law and Eu 3rd Directive.

Alexander Azzopardi (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

about time ! but of course its italy ,not our goveremnt dont have the guts to do so

John Richards (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

@ Tommy Lyons. I would not necessarily believe that story, as the Mail is a well known right wing newspaper that blaims everything on immigration and foreigners from overseas. Most reasonable people from the UK (myself included) have a more enlightened view of foreigners. A small country like Malta cannot be expected to take all the refugees that comes to its shore, mainly due to an accident of geography and a entry slip to the EU. Every country needs to take their fair share, and perhaps we should try and enrich the lives from people from the fleeing countries so they not feel the need to leave. A haylcon dream perhaps.

Raymond Sammut (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

So they arrested a man from Eritrea, and he is 26 years old, along with a boatman. Some piece of news. They almost make it sound like some sort of a breakthrough.

arthur ellul (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

Sig. Ambasciatore Della Repubblica italiana, residente at Xbiex, Malta. Per cortesia, traduce questa nota fedelmente come riportata dal giornale, e manda alla Direzione del TGCom di Canale 5 e StudioAperto di Mediaset, la Rai e tutta la rappresentanza dello Stato italiano che questi profugi hanno rifuitato l'aiuto da parta nostra. Spera che lei e molto capace di tradurre fedelmente l'Inglese al Italiano. Con tanti distinti Saluti Arturo Ellul, Da Malta.

Julian Galea (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

@ Alfred Pace Malta should and would never give up its search and rescue. In this area is considered part of Malta and if oil is found within these waters it would be maltese oil. Italy wants this area because it is known for millions of barrels of oil

Paul Barrett (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

Unfortunately this is becoming very much like the game "spin the bottle". And NO, I have not got an answer on how to resolve the problem.

Reuben Gauci (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

THIS IS SOME GOOD NEWS!!! Hope more arrests will follow.

Raymond Sammut (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

"A Libyan warship which was meant to pick up the migrants yesterday did not show up." This may or may not mean that the Libyans did not conduct a search. It's immaterial. There is simply no point in looking for someone who is chasing a carrot. The Libyans know too well what their game is and who is dangling the carrot. What Gonzi will never explain is why the AFM themselves have not been taking these people back to Libya in order to stop this deceptive and fraudulent behaviour in the first place. There can be no possible law that can justify this behaviour. Any attempt at justification would only discredit the law itself. Even the Refugee Convention states that entering, or attempting to enter, a third country is illegal. Gonzi knows this, but he remains mum while patrol boats have to keep dealing with dangerous waters.

Joseph Calleja (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

A Libyan warship which was meant to pick up the migrants yesterday did not show up. Maybe the Libyan warship developed the same engine trouble the illegal immigrants have with their motors, a very convenient engine failure. Did you notice that there were 200 people on this boat/dinghy. These boats are becoming bigger and bigger and carrying more passengers.

joe scerri (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

"Rome SRR Centre gave it instructions to sail into the Maltese search and rescue area, despite the fact that the closest port of call at the time was the Libyan port of Benghazi"

MSciberras (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

@Alfred Pace
Incredible to read such comments as yours. Malta's large SAR gives Malta economic and soverign rights ex the right to collect fees from all air traffic in that zone. It also gives the island additional and strong arguments in the ownership of resources within the SAR. Malta's SAR was in fact bigger in the seventies, stretching all the way to the Libyan coast - until the great Dom gave part of it to the Libyans (has that done us any good?). Malta's large SAR is a direct legacy of British colonial rule and the fact that Malta was on the winning side in WW2. It cannot be described as Maltese territory, but it is territory over which Malta's soverign rights are recognised, a very important asset to have. Why do you think the Italians are so eager to take over a large chunk of Malta's SAR? Altruism?

Anthony Formosa (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

@ Franco Farrugia,

Are the illegal immigrants Libyans? NO so what the Libyans has to do with them? Libya has a much bigger problem with the illegal immigrants, with a population of 5 million they have another 2 million illegal immigrants and no Europe or USA is helping them, infact they are making the situation worst in Africa by supplying weapons.

@ Stephen Farrugia, Yeah get the Brits and kick the Maltese out.

Kenneth Galea (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

And what is the comment from the UNHCR????? It is silent on the fact that the Libyan warship never turned up. This is exactly the same policy which Italy and Malta should implement and I guarantee that not a single boat of illegals will set sail from Libya then!!!! But the UNHCR which embraces illegal immigration gets away with murder!!!! And Italy and Malta come under fire from the EU and the UNHCR to the detriment of the Maltese and Italian citizens. No wonder that the cost of living is spiralling out of control with so many illegals to feed and water. They do NOT qualify to work and reside in the EU, Africa is NOT part of Europe!!!!

john micallef (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

guess another 'war of words' is in store between Malta and Italy while the colonel is laughing at Europe's impotence!!!

Franco Farrugia (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

It is useless for Europe and the USA to try and collaborate with Libya. We know what Libya is, and we know what kind of regime is governing Libya! Libya has not changed one iota! The sooner the West realises this, the better.

Tommy Lyons (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

@Stephen Farrugia.

The British have an 'open door' policy, haven't you heard?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1222998/Labour-open-borders-storm-Demands-inquiry-claims-migrants-let-Tories-accused-racism.html

Treason like never before and you still want a British base?

Ivan Said (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

This story from Corriere della Sera may interest you
http://www.corriere.it/cronache/09_ottobre_26/sciacca-immigrati-barcone_9ff51c3c-c21a-11de-b592-00144f02aabc.shtml

Alfred Pace (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

I think that it is about time we reduce our search and rescue area so that there be less chance that these people become our responsibility. The Italians have an agreement with Libya to send them back , we have nothing apart from promises from other e.u. so called friends. I would like to know why we have to keep such a large area, such a small country with so much responsibility or is it maybe that one day we might be looking for oil in these areas? up to now all we found is illegal immigrants. Leave searches to people that have the resources and power to do so.

Stephen Farrugia( Rightwing) (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

The Libyans are hopeless. We should bring back the British military base back or even better, bring the new European army to Malta. S Farrugia (Sliema)

martin gauci (3 weeks, 5 days ago)

Tha's the way. Insist that there is no need for the migrants to be transfered to Malta. Leave this to be a problem to be resolved betweeen Italy and Libya.

Libya arrests two for organising migrants' crossing

Migrants refused Maltese assistance

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