According to a story currently being reported on timesofmalta.com a group of 29 Somali immigrants have been charged in court this afternoon, accused of trying to escape detention early today.
The detention officers noticed the escape bid and successfully blocked it. The Somalis in question - all aged between 18 and 25 – were not amused and disobeyed orders while throwing stones and hot water at the detention officers.
Quite naturally anyone breaking the law should pay for his or her mistakes. I have no problem with that. Truth be told, though, that spending months in a detention centre (aka prison) while awaiting the response for one’s request for asylum is no joke. I guess it would drive a sane and calm man (or woman for that matter) to do insane and angry things. However, I repeat, breaking the law should not be allowed.
It seems that an earlier version of the story referred to Ethiopians and not to Somalis.
This caused some confusion among those posting comments. A certain Louise Vella commented that Ethiopia is a safe country while Lawrence J.M. Galea wrote that “hey don't have any problems in Ethiopia.” Alvin Scerri said that “Ethiopia is a free country.” And so on and so forth.
Edwin De Marco commented that some were mixing up Ethiopia with Utopia! He pointed out that 66 per cent of the population of Ethiopia have no access to safe drinking water while 79 per cent have no adequate sanitation.
Ethiopia and Somalia are very distinct. One connection between the two countries is that there are close to a quarter of a million Somali refugees in Ethiopia.
According to the website of Refugees International Somalis continue to experience one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. As of October 2012 there are roughly 1.3 million Somalis displaced internally and over a million refugees living in neighbouring countries – including Kenya, Ethiopia, and Yemen. Overall, according to UNHCR, there are 3.7 million Somalis now “who are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance” as a result of conflict or food insecurity.
On the positive side, the same web site notes that in September 2012, Somalia elected a new president, Hassan Sheik Mohamud, who is widely viewed as a positive change from the corrupt and ineffectual regime of his predecessor, Sheik Sharif. The same source realistically adds that it is too soon to know whether the new government can exert the necessary political pressure to stem the systemic siphoning of aid.
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Earlier this week Air Malta pilots were the talk of the Island. An unusually high number of pilots reported sick on the same day throwing Air Malta into a crisis which, it said, cost it €500,000.
I do not know to discuss whether these pilots were truly sick or not. I am not a doctor. My comment is about people’s perceptions and their implications. I have not met one single person who believed that this was a case of sincere sickness. All the persons, whose opinion I asked for strongly believed that this was a planned protest. Pilots strongly deny this.
People’s contrary belief to what the pilots are saying shows that our pilots do not enjoy high credibility ratings with the general population. There is a worse aspect. These pilots were certified as sick by properly qualified doctors. People’s disbelief does not augur well for our medical profession. Popular perceptions imply that there is spread belief that either doctors could be fooled or they connive to do such unprofessional actions.
If would be wise for the unions of pilots and doctors to address these perceptions.