Screenshot from https://timesofmalta.com/

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10 November 2019Malta would negotiate a secret agreement with Libya for a coordination between the Maltese armed forces (AFM, which include the navy) and the controversial Libyan coast guard, which would intercept the migrants' barges on the recommendation of the Afm before entering the Maltese waters and return them to Libya. The Sunday Times of Malta writes.

The Ong Alarm Phone on Twitter denounces an agreement that "prevents people from escaping from a war zone and violates international conventions for human rights".

The SundayTimes of Malta online site publishes a photo of a meeting between Maltese colonel Clinton O'Neil, head of AFM operations and intelligence, and Libyan deputy prime minister Ahmed Maiteeq, organized by the Maltese ambassador in Tripoli. In the foreground, a member of the cabinet of the Maltese prime minister, Neville Gafà, repeatedly accused of corruption in issuing visas for irregular medical reasons.

According to the Sunday edition of the Maltese newspaper, Gafà credited himself as "special envoy of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat" in meetings with the Libyan government and last year he was forced to admit to having had a meeting with Hajthem Tajouri, leader of a militia that runs a private detention camp and the extortion racket.

According to high-level government sources quoted by the newspaper, the first contacts between Valletta and Tripoli date back to last year. "Now we have reached an agreement that we can call understanding with the Libyans - the source said - When there is a boat heading towards our waters, the AFM coordinates with the Libyans who take them and take them back to Libya first that enter our waters and become our responsibility ".

The government source, according to the Times of Malta, also pointed out that without the agreement the island would have been "submerged by migrants".

From the prime minister's cabinet, a spokesman said that bilateral meetings are being continuously conducted by Malta on a regular basis, adding that the country "always respects" international conventions and laws.

"The EU - he said - actively spends itself in favor of respecting the instructions of the competent European authorities that are against the obstruction of the operations conducted by the Libyan coast guard, which is financed and trained by the European Union itself to support the management of the migrants and combat human trafficking ".

The Ong Alarm Phone on Twitter commented: "Although not a surprise, it is now confirmed that the Maltese authorities coordinate interceptions in collaboration with Libya. This prevents people from escaping from a war zone and violates international rights conventions man. "