Migrant families to start new life in Luxembourg

Three migrant families, one Somali and the other Eritrean, left Malta yesterday for Luxembourg, where they will be helped to start a new life.

This follows the relocation of a hundred migrants to France a month ago and is part of an EU pilot project for European states to take migrants from Malta.

One of the families is an Eritrean couple who had been rescued from a sinking boat by the Armed Forces of Malta in 2005, while two Somali women and their two children made it ashore in 2006.

They will now be offered an integration package, which includes two apartments for a year and lessons in French.

The Justice Ministry yesterday thanked Luxembourg for the solidarity shown with Malta and the International Immigration Organisation for its logistical help.