|
Steadfastly refusing to answer questions directly by MaltaToday, Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela considers the 17 November migrants’ tragedy “case closed” according to his spokesman, despite new revelations about an order to the AFM patrollers to “keep at a distance” from the boat packed with 200 migrants passing through Maltese waters.
The AFM operations log book entries published for the first time by MaltaToday last week contradict Abela’s claim in Parliament that “migrants refused help”, just a few hours after 29 of them died in the shipwreck on Sicilian shores.
In fact the log book entries clearly indicate that at no point did the AFM offer help or ask the migrants if they needed assistance as they monitored them in Maltese waters. Senior AFM sources say the only way to do this in the circumstances would be for one of the patrol boats to flank the boat.
The log book registers that the closest AFM patrol boat to reach the migrants on that fateful day was the Melita 1, at 150 metres distance from the migrants, at 5.30pm, when the ship master sent message back to base that “visibility is very bad”.
A thunderstorm warning is sent ten minutes later from the Luqa airfield. By 5.45pm, the same boat reports it has lost sight of the boat. Eight minutes later, it reports it is running out of fuel and that weather conditions are getting worse, which is strange considering that the AFM always refuels fully its boats before sending them on operations.
Despite the new details of the operation, Abela declined to answer questions, particularly about misleading parliament.
“It is case closed for us,” his spokesman, Tonio Farrugia, said. “Your questions have already been answered by the Office of the Prime Minister.”
Indeed, faced with the question about Abela misleading Parliament by declaring migrants had refused help, the prime minister’s office has turned its guns on this newspaper, charging it in turn with carrying a “misleading” story.
“You are quoting the Parliamentary Secretary out of context,” said the prime minister’s Head of Secretariat, Edgar Galea Curmi, about Abela’s parliamentary declaration.
The full quote cited by Galea Curmi reads: “Until yesterday evening (AFM) was still following the boat that kept heading north of our country. I have to say that despite the fact that the army followed the boat, they did not want any kind of help, absolutely, and refused any assistance because they had the right of innocent passage at sea, and they kept heading north on their own steam without requesting any kind of assistance. This morning some reports suggested that the army did not try to help these people, but there’s nothing true in them. The truth is that they wanted to proceed as was their right to do on their own steam so that that they reach other places.”
The log book shows that by 6.30pm, one of the two patrol boats sent to monitor the migrants was already back in base, while the other one was on its way back, after calculating that the migrants would reach Italy in three hours’ time. A third patrol boat meant to take over never left the Maritime Squad base.
Also, the claim that the migrants had the “right of innocent passage at sea” remains highly contentious, as maritime law experts say the international law of the sea requires vessels passing through national waters to comply with state legislation on matters like public health, immigration, customs and fiscal matters, and navigation.
The same quote now deemed “out of context” was extensively and prominently reported, uncontested, in the Maltese and Italian press in the wake of the tragedy. The Sunday Times of 20 November reported Abela as saying: “They had the right of innocent passage. But more importantly, the AFM ensured that the boat was moving on its own steam and the immigrants refused any assistance.”
In the same report, The Times quotes a Tunisian survivor, Hamed Godbari, who had told the national Italian press that they did not see the Maltese patrol boats although they wanted to reach Italy “at all costs”.
On the same day, MaltaToday reported Abela accusing the Italians of failing to respond to warnings from the Maltese authorities that the boat was approaching Sicily. Reiterating his “migrants refused help” comment, Abela confused the timing of events when he said the Italians were informed from Malta about the boat approaching Sicilian shores at 9.15pm, “and to my knowledge no rescue team was dispatched”.
In fact, the AFM informed Rome via fax at 8.07pm, almost two hours since the Maltese patrol boats were recalled back to base. The Italians were equally late in their response. It took them an hour and a half to call back to enquire about the boat.
All that lost time meant that the Italian rescuers were too late on the scene of the tragedy, which left nine dead and another 20 who were never recovered, also listed as “dead” in the judicial inquiry launched by the Sicilian investigators.
Shortly after the tragedy hit the headlines on the news wires and internet news portals, Abela was already being quoted on the phrase now deemed out of contest, but back then never contested.
MaltaMedia.com put it as its headline: “Illegal immigrants refuse to enter Malta”, quoting Abela that “the boat was sighted in international seas” – another piece of misinformation given that the first sighting of the boat was five miles off It-Tieqa, Gozo.
On the same day, Italian press agency APCOM referred to Abela’s intervention in parliament, saying he insisted “that the boat was sighted in international seas and that the illegal immigrants wanted to continue their journey towards Sicily”.
Next day, The Malta Independent joins the chorus in repeating the claim that “AFM patrol boats went out to assist the immigrants but these refused assistance and insisted they wanted to continue their voyage to Sicily”, reiterating Abela’s phrase that “these immigrants refused assistance from the Armed Forces and wanted to continue their voyage to Italy”.
Now, the Prime Minister’s office has declassified confidential army photos of the boat taken from the AFM’s air squadron Islander air plane that was instructed to “keep at a distance” from the boat by the AFM headquarters.
“Your readers will judge for themselves the nature of the boat involved in this operation,” Galea Curmi said about the photos being published here for the first time. “The pictures will also provide your readers with the necessary scene to evaluate Hon Parliamentary Secretary’s comments in parliament related to this incident.”
According to Galea Curmi, these photos “clearly show that the migrants were exercising their right of innocent passage on their way through the Maltese Search and Rescue Area”. In fact, they were sighted in Maltese waters, five miles off Gozo.
Asked on what grounds Abela declared in Parliament that migrants refused help given that there was no contact with the boat people, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “Your readers know how people on board a boat in difficulty signal for help. No sign of such signal was at any time noticed by the AFM aircraft from which photos were taken or by the patrol boat that was equipped with visual assistance devices. The migrants on board ‘refused’ to signal for any help to the AFM even though they could have easily done so as the photos clearly indicate.”
And yet, the log book clearly indicates that the weather was degenerating rapidly, with the wind eventually turning force 7 and scarce visibility, to the point that the master of a third patrol boat, the P52, that was supposed to go out to monitor the migrants did not leave base, in a sequence of messages that give every indication of a botched mission.
At 6.32pm, the log book reads: “P52. Capt Grixti informed us that with the sea conditions he is not going out he is remaining stand by at base.”
Galea Curmi confirmed the order to “keep at a distance” to be “standard practice” in AFM operations at sea.
“AFM solders were told to continue following the boat at a distance as part of the normal practice of surveillance of Maltese territorial waters,” he said, a claim also rebutted by senior AFM sources. “It must be emphasised that international law does not grant jurisdiction to coastal states in respect of irregular/illegal migration. In other words, unless there is a clear case of distress States should not intervene.”
Asked why Abela criticised the Italian rescuers of failing to respond to the warning from the Maltese authorities as the boat was approaching Sicily – they called Malta back after a full 90 minutes – when it took Malta two hours to inform Rome, Galea Curmi said: “The Italian authorities were informed at the time that the AFM Operations Centre calculated the boat in question would have reached the Italian territorial waters, considering the speed and the steady course of the boat.”
Meanwhile the story has been picked up prominently in the Italian press, as opposed to the Maltese media where the revelations have been incredibly ignored.
Even the Labour Party’s spokesman on immigration and the army, Gavin Gulia, has taken a back seat in the controversy, preferring to let Abela do the talking before taking any commitment on the fatal journey.
In contrast, Labour’s European Parliament delegation is taking the stand that “the authorities should clarify the situation on this incident and the terms of reference during such operations”.
In a joint statement, MEPs Louis Grech, Joseph Muscat and John Attard Montalto said: “Should the facts as related in your report be confirmed, the situation would be unacceptable. We have repeatedly expressed our point of view on the issue of illegal immigration and our position has been consistent throughout. We are aware of the limited resources which our country has to tackle this human tragedy and thus we do agree that a European-wide solution is necessary. Thus, we concur that this issue should form part of a wider discussion, not only in the European Parliament but also in the Council and Commission.”
Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil said he found the revelations “very disturbing particularly since human lives were lost at sea”.
“Tragically, hundreds of lives are being lost in the Mediterranean every year, putting all countries concerned, both in Europe an in the South, to shame,” Busuttil said, adding that he will be taking up the case “in the wider context of the ongoing debate on immigration in the European Parliament and particularly on the need for more co-ordination at EU level in the area of search and rescue.
“Commissioner Frattini has long been putting forward proposals in this regard but, frankly, I cannot see concrete results to date. This goes to show the limits of EU competence in the area of immigration and the reluctance on the part of individual Member States to support common action and to share the burden which individual countries, such as Malta, are having to shoulder on their own. It is a sad irony that the EU Constitution which now lies on the shelf would have given the EU a greater role in forging a common immigration policy.”
According to the Malta office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the incident requires further clarification and responsibility has to be identified.
“On this particular incident of course it is very difficult to judge what really happened, but it is important to clarity what happened and to identify responsibility,” said Neil Falzon, a UNHCR Malta representative.
“We appreciate the difficulties of rescuing persons in rough weather conditions, complicated by the fact that immigrants may not want to be rescued,” Falzon said. “This tragedy highlights the need of closer cooperation between states particularly in terms of faster and more effective communication. We also have to remember that people crossing the Mediterranean are at the mercy of ruthless traffickers, travelling on boats that are mostly inadequate for navigation and with insufficient fuel. Despite the decreasing number of asylum applications received in Europe, there is evidence of large numbers of migrants not reaching European shores, estimated to reach 2,000 deaths in the Mediterranean every year. In the last 45 days of 2005, the Spanish Civil Guard reported that between 1,400 and 1,700 had died crossing from Mauritania to the Canary Islands.”
Alternattiva Chairman Harry Vassallo says “the army’s honour is dented” and charges Abela of misinforming Parliament, “either deliberately or because he was himself misinformed”.
“It still does nothing to improve his credibility,” Vassallo said. “But most Maltese observers will not be deeply shocked because their expectations are not very high in the first place.
“The Army took care to monitor the situation ostensibly to avoid any unannounced landing of a large number of immigrants and may be suspected of avoiding contact with the boat in order not to be exposed to a request for rescue. Throughout the event the immigrants’ boat steamed North in heavy seas but ran into difficulties only once it entered the Italian FIR.
“The immigrants risked their lives and several of them lost. None of them expect the Maltese army to rescue them against their will. Their target is Italy and they clearly are prepared to put their lives on the line to get there. Nobody has a moral or legal obligation to prevent it. Both Italy and Malta have an interest in avoiding the burdens of the current mass migration as far as they are able and we are likely to witness many more such incidents and more of such cold calculation through which more lives will be lost. Traditionally soldiers are rewarded with medals for acting above and beyond the call of duty. None are punished for not acting heroically.
“Having said this, the presence of the army vessels in the immediate vicinity of a boat which is overloaded and facing worsening sea conditions would lead one to expect the army to offer assistance so far as it was able to do so even if this was beyond its legal obligations. The failure to do so would be considered a mortal offence among fishermen. There is justified suspicion that had the vessel in question been a pleasure yacht, such an offer would have been made. The army’s honour is dented but it cannot be accused of having failed in its duties or international obligations. Unfortunately for the occupants of the boat in question and for others who will follow in their wake, such incidents are read in the context of the current, mismanaged immigration crisis and its political consequences. Had this been a unique incident, the first such boat, the reaction to be expected from the Maltese to the army's cunning avoidance would be very different. This is a sad account of the value we give to human life and good governance despite all the contrary rhetoric.”
Links: www.maltatoday.com.mt/2006/04/16/top_story.html
|
