Detention centres have been practically empty for almost 18 months after Italy and Libya agreed on a push-back policy that saw rescued migrants immediately returned to the North African state.

The agreement had stemmed the migratory flow from Libya and last year only 27 migrants made it to Malta in complete contrast with the almost 4,000 who arrived in the previous two years.

However, the eerie silence that had fallen over the empty detention facilities, which according to a parliamentary reply last November housed only 79 people, was broken last week.

In the span of 24 hours 819 mostly African migrants came to Malta after fleeing unrest in Libya. Malta’s worst fear, first expressed in February when the Libyan revolt was barely in its first week, had materialised.

Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici has been frantically working the diplomatic channels to convince the EU that Malta must receive help to deal with a migrant influx triggered by civil war in Libya.

Those efforts have until now yielded little in terms of concrete action as some member states remain unconvinced that Malta faces an emergency situation.

EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom on Friday poured cold water on Malta’s appeal, insisting that the circumstances did not yet warrant triggering the temporary protection mechanism, which would give migrants immediate protection and the opportunity to be transferred to other countries.

Malta has had to deal with much higher numbers of migrant arrivals in the past. In 2008, which was an exceptional year, more than 2,700 migrants landed in Malta.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici has defended his stand though, insisting that today’s migratory flow from Libya could not be compared with what used to happen in the past.

“Migrants are now fleeing a civil war and given the chance everyone would want to escape a flying bullet,” he told journalists yesterday, pointing out that better weather conditions would definitely lead to more people crossing the sea in the coming days. Ms Malmstrom’s comments, however, reflect what the International Organisation for Migration told The Times just over a week ago when asked whether it agreed the migrant crisis was of biblical proportions as described by Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

“I don’t think we will see outstanding numbers of people coming from Libya to other countries like Malta and Italy,” Josè Angel Oropeza, IOM’s chief of mission for the Mediterranean and North African region, had said.

The larger numbers, he added, were heading towards countries that had land borders with Libya.

This is little consolation for Malta.

While admitting that the current situation may not amount to a crisis, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the sudden arrival of 819 migrants in a short time span was an indication of things to come.

The expectation is that the Libyan crisis will lead to more migrants making the sea journey in a bid to escape the conflict and while a few thousand people may be insignificant for larger countries the same cannot be said for Malta, the EU’s smallest state.

In the government’s eyes, what is currently a manageable situation can easily turn into an emergency scenario overnight and when that happens Malta does not yet have the certainty that its European neighbours will come to the rescue.

Migrant numbers

Nationalities of migrants who arrived last week
Somalia - 411
Eritrea - 250
Ethiopia - 87
Ivory Coast - 26
Mali - 16
Pakistan - 14
Sudan - 6
Nigeria - 6
Yemen - 2
Mauritania - 1
Total: 819

Migrants in Malta before Libya crisis
Held in detention: 79
Living in open centres: 2,224
Living in the community: 1,400
Total: 3,703

Migrant arrivals in previous years
2007: 1,702
2008: 2,775
2009: 1,397
2010: 27

Sources: Home Affairs Ministry and parliamentary replies.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com