A three-year-old boy who survived a car accident in Libya that killed his mother was yesterday reunited with his father who had fled Eritrea in 2012.
Tages Gebregzabher’s face lit up when his son Abiel appeared at the airport, four days after he made an appeal to the authorities to grant permission for the boy to be brought to Malta since it was too risky for him to travel to Libya.
His wife Shewit died on her way from Sudan three weeks ago, after fleeing Eritrea with little Abiel to join her husband.
Mr Gebregzabher, who has another eight-year-old son in Eritrea, was visibly broken when he recounted his story last week at the offices of the Emigrants Commission in Valletta.
Mr Gebregzabher was lost for words but delighted and grateful for the authorities and commission’s help
Since he has subsidiary protection and not refugee status, he could not automatically bring his son to Malta.
Yesterday he waited anxiously for more than two hours, a smile never leaving his face and holding a balloon that read Welcome, which a Maltese mother and her son had bought for him.
The wait was longer than expected as the toddler was examined by doctors on arrival.
When he saw Abiel, the 47-year-old man beamed, kissed him three times on his cheeks and immediately took him in his arms.
The child never protested, despite not being familiar with his father as he was only six months old when Mr Gebregzabher had to leave the country, where men are forced to serve in the Eritrean army indefinitely.
A government spokesman said the Home Affairs Ministry prepared the paperwork on Friday after the Foreign Ministry located the child and made the logistical arrangements.
The UNHCR made sure he was kept in a safe place. Medavia brought him over free of charge.
Mr Gebregzabher’s friend Berhane Ghirmay, who accompanied him at the airport, said the father was lost for words but “delighted” and grateful to the authorities and commission for their help.
Beaming, director Mgr Philip Calleja said the commission would look into how the motherless toddler will be cared for while his father is at work.