US embassy cables | Armed Forces of Malta ‘point immigrants’ to Lampedusa

An official of the Armed Forces of Malta allegedly admitted to the United States’ deputy ambassador Elizabeth Dibble 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.

In an embassy cable leaked by Wikileaks, 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.

The 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.

“Each year 120,000 persons out of 450,000 immigrants to Europe are estimated to cross the Mediterranean by boat, and no one knows for sure how many die in the attempt,” Dibble says.

Quoting Caritas’ vice-president Le Quyen Ngo Dinh, Dibble says that Italy’s limited number of detention centres – 10 centres with a capacity of fewer than 3,000 beds and some reception centres in the south – makes it impossible to detain those subject to expulsion order.

Dibble also reports that government officials complain privately abou tLibya's complicity in the trafficking of refugees and the failure of the EU to do more to help the southern tier states cope with the problem.

“They have mounted an aggressive diplomatic campaign with affected states to win their cooperation in limiting irregular flows to Italy…

“Although Interior Ministry officials have told the embassy that they believe there is little terrorist threat from irregular immigrants, and government statistics reveal an overall drop in crime in all major Italian cities in 2008,Prime Minister Berlusconi and the Italian press (of which Berlusconi controls a majority) continuously hype a connection between crime and terrorism and illegal immigrants.”