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Matthew Vella
Malta’s voice in Brussels has sent a stern reprimand to the European Union, after ambassador Richard Cachia Caruana criticised member states for not rebuking Libya for its failure over rescue immigrants it was legally bound to save.
In a letter to his German counterpart Wilhelm Schoenfelder dated 8 June, Malta’s permanent representative to the EU lamented that all guns had been turned on Malta, while “not one single voice has called on the country”, referring to Libya, “to honour its obligations”.
He described as “unacceptable” and “incorrect” statements made by Spain and Commissions Vice-President Franco Frattini, and in no unclear terms expressed Malta’s “profound disappointment at the ill-judged way” at the criticism levelled against it by the Commission and member states.
“While Malta has been targeted for criticism,” he said referring to the Budafel, Montfalco, and Motte Piquet incidents concerning shipwrecked migrants, “not one single voice has called on the country which was internationally bound to coordinate search and rescue operations in the two incidents as well as to receive the rescued individuals to honour its obligations.”
Cachia Caruana said the rescue operations had been the sole responsibility of the Libyans because the incidents took place in their search and rescue region (SAR).
The revelation of Cachia Caruana’s reprove to the EU comes a week after Libyan ambassador Saad El Shlmani threatened MaltaToday with legal actions if it carried “any more attacks on Libya and its leadership”.
Claiming it was “insulted” by reports and opinion columns carried in MaltaToday about the way Tripoli has been handling the often fatal immigrants’ exodus from its shores over the last months, the Libyan government said it would take action if MaltaToday carried “any more attacks on Libya and its leadership”.
In his letter, Richard Cachia Caruana also defended Malta from accusations by Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini, who frowned upon Malta’s reluctance to save migrants outside its SAR.
“The claim that Malta should take responsibility for rescued persons outside its search and rescue region apart from being legally incorrect places also an unfair and unreasonable burden on Malta.
“This is not merely a ‘legal bureaucratic government’, as Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini called it in La Repubblica, but it is an issue that, as we are all aware, has wide ramifications.”
Cachia Caruana said that “while registering my authorities’ profound disappointment at the ill-judged way the above matters have been handled, we prefer to look ahead and try and find a way forward to ensure that such incidents will not recur.”
He also referred to claims by Frattini that Malta had not ratified the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention and the Search and Rescue Conventions as “totally incorrect”.
“What has probably given rise to Mr Frattini’s remark are the recent amendments to the Conventions,” referring to new rules which would force Malta to take in anyone saved in its large SAR, even if the individuals saved can be taken to another, nearest safe port – an amendment Malta has not accepted.
Cachia Caruana gave a detailed breakdown of the events in which he claimed Malta had informed Libya of the incidents in their SAR, but that no action had been taken by the North African state, such as the Budafel tuna pen incident.
He said Malta could not accept statements by the Spanish government that it was bound to take migrants saved by a Spanish vessel, the Montfalco, when it rescued a number of individuals inside the Libyan SAR.
He also said it was “patently not true” that Malta refused corpses picked up by the French military vessel La Motte Piquet, which were collected from the Libyan SAR. “Indeed, Malta’s foreign minister personally called the French Ambassador in Valletta making it clear that Malta was ready to accept the corpses even if Libya would not co-operate in that respect. This was equally an issue of human dignity.”
Cachia Caruana said the obligation to save lives at sea was the responsibility of all countries bordering the Mediterranean, “and not only of EU member states. In this respect, my authorities believe it imperative that all countries be called upon to honour their international obligations.”
He said Malta had fulfilled its international obligations to the full, bringing ashore 237 illegal immigrants in ten separate incidents, and managing its large, 250,000 square-metre SAR “with the utmost professionalism and expertise”.
“Notwithstanding this, there have been calls for Malta to take on responsibilities which belong to others.”
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
Links: www.maltatoday.com.mt/2007/07/01/t2.html |
