Twice displaced, Ivorian woman who came from Libya says world should help Malta

Forced out of her country by a civil war in Ivory Coast, Gorgette Ameyaw fled to Libya a few weeks before she found herself at the centre of violence once again.

Now, Ms Ameyaw is in Malta after having made a successful crossing by boat with hundreds of other non-Libyan migrants.

Speaking to Timesofmalta.com from the Hal Far detention centre, Ms Ameyaw said her brother was shot dead in Ivory Coast as the conflict escalated.

That was when she and her husband decided to flee, leaving their four children behind with their grandparents who live in the safer rural parts of the country. But since their jobs were based in the city, Ms Ameyaw and her husband felt they had to flee to cope financially

She says she would only return to Ivory Coast if the situation there settled down for a while. "Sometimes a fire becomes small for a while, but grows big again," she said, referring to the fact that incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo had been captured.

"(The Maltese soldiers) have given us everything we need. They have been our mentors. But there are plenty of people like us, so we appeal to the whole world to help," she added.