The island of Malta has authorized the disembarkation of 425 migrants, some of whom have been stranded at sea for several weeks at sea. These people, who came from Libya and were rescued in the Mediterranean during several rescue operations since April, disembarked the night of Saturday night in Valletta, the government announced in a statement.
The Maltese authorities prohibited their landing and kept them at the limit of territorial waters on board specially mobilized tourist boats, highlighting the risks of contamination with Covid-19.
Malta denounces the inaction of other European countries
Malta also demanded that other European countries eventually take charge of them. "No European country, despite their grand speeches on European solidarity, has finally agreed to take these migrants," criticized Valletta in its press release. The government "did not want to endanger the lives of these migrants like the lives of the crews" of the ships welcoming them.
According to the Italian news agency AGI, the decision was made to disembark them "because the crews of tourist ships feared for their safety", with a situation becoming "very difficult to manage".
Migration “tsunami” according to authorities
Since 2005, the island of Malta has faced a wave of arrivals of migrants, notably from Libya. Only 8% of them have been relocated to other countries of the European Union, and irregular migrants now represent 1% of the island's total population, according to Valletta. The authorities see it as a migratory “tsunami” and warned that the country, the smallest EU state, “will not become the center of the European migration crisis”.
According to official Maltese figures, 3,405 people landed in 2019 and 2,795 are still there. And at the start of the year, nearly 1,400 migrants arrived. For the moment, only Portugal and France have responded to Malta's calls this year, promising to welcome 6 and 30 people respectively.
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