Ministry denies US embassy cable allegations as ‘manifestly false’

The Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs has stated that allegations in US embassy cable leaked by website Wikileaks, dealing with the behaviour of army rescuers with asylum seekers, are “manifestly false”.

According to the cable, an official of the Armed Forces of Malta is paraphrased by the United States’ deputy ambassador Elizabeth Dibble as having “admitted” that the army “pointed” asylum seekers and migrants on seaworthy boats in the Mediterranean towards Italy, namely the island of Lampedusa.

The allegation confirms speculation of how armies and coast-guards, both Maltese and Italian, direct incoming boats carrying immigrants leaving Libya not necessarily to the nearest and safest port of call, but to neighbouring countries.

“It must be noted that the allegation in the cable published by Wikileaks you are referring to does not result from any official source. To the contrary, such allegations were consistently denied by the Maltese authorities. It is also pertinent to note that the same cable contains other allegations about Malta which are manifestly false,” a ministry spokesperson told MaltaToday.

The safe passage of boats carrying asylum seekers through member states’ waters is not illegal in itself. Migrants are ‘irregular’ only once they disembark and present themselves without passport identification or an entry visa. So coast guards have to succour boats that are in distress and take them to the nearest safe port of call.

In the embassy cable, the US deputy ambassador Elizabeth Dibble says that although all states are required under international law to render assistance to refugees in distress, “there is a presumption in Italy that the Italian border police undertake the lion’s share of the response to distress calls, a perception shared by NGOs.”

“During a visit to Malta in February, a member of the Armed Forces of Malta told us the AFM responds to distress calls within its limited capacity, but admitted if the boat is deemed seaworthy the AFM points the migrants toward Lampedusa.”

Additionally, Dibble says a former member of the Carabinieri who worked for Interpol claimed that “only the Italians regularly take active steps” in rescue missions when Frontex, the EU’s border agency, receives reports of boats in distress.

Malta has raised strong objections to Frontex operational guidelines and also pulled out from participation in patrols by the border agency, because it wanted to return migrants picked up by Frontex vessels to the country hosting the Frontex mission.

Malta has always insisted that migrants rescued on the high seas should be taken to the nearest port. Otherwise, Malta would have to take most of the migrants rescued in its vast search and rescue region, which extends down to Tunisia and as far off as Crete.

The embassy cable was sent to most North African and European embassies of the US, but not to Malta.

A month after the cable was despatched, in May 2009, Malta and Italy became embroiled in a diplomatic war of words, when an Italian blockade refused entry to a Maltese patrol boat carrying 66 rescued migrants into Lampedusa: dubbed “disgusting” by Lawrence Gonzi, the prime minister said that Malta would give migrant boats free passage to Italy.

A week after the incident, Italy forcefully repatriated 227 migrants to Libya, and the move was welcomed by Malta, with home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici saying the repatriation had “brought Malta and Italy closer”.

According to the US cable, NGOs say that traffickers tell the boat migrants to head for an ENI oil-rig platform. Upon arrival at the platform, they are told to head due north to Lampedusa.