The number of migrants who were repatriated from Malta last year was half that of 2006, figures given in Parliament show.

There were 338 repatriations last year compared to 780 in 2006 and 954 in 2005.Repatriations reached 704 in 2004, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said.

A spokesman for the ministry told timesofmalta.com that the number of repatriations had dropped because the migrants were making it more difficult for the authorities to establish their nationality.

"In the past we used to get many migrants from Maghreb countries, that hardly happens anymore. Most come from the Horn of Africa and West Africa, yet they claim they would have come from Somalia. There is no government to speak of in Somalia and therefore establishing the true nationality of the migrants is difficult, although we do get there eventually," the spokesman said.

He added that the ministry was considering new measures to increase the repatriation of migrants, including an Assisted Voluntary Repatriation Programme being worked out in association with the EU. In terms of that programme, migrants would be encouraged and assisted to get back to their country, where they would be helped - mostly by NGOs - to stand on their own two feet, such as by starting a small business.