Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Tesfay Bekurezion Gebredngle paid $1,300 to make the clandestine boat trip from North Africa to Sicily. Instead, the Eritrean refugee was taken to Malta, an island a thousandth of Italy's size. ``We saw lights in the distance and the captain told us it was Italy,'' said Gebredngle, 30, who braved the Mediterranean Sea only to fall 60 miles short of his destination. ``As we got closer, a patrol boat came out of the darkness.'' The Maltese coast guard arrested the 34 passengers and crew.
Malta, which joined the European Union in 2004, has become a dumping ground for unsuspecting refugees trying to reach the continent. They are left by their traffickers because the island is the first point reached by boats from war-torn parts of Africa. Under EU rules, Malta cannot refuse anyone who may qualify for international protection.
Now the Maltese are asking their EU partners to help absorb the wave of immigration. The government is lobbying larger countries to provide financial and diplomatic aid to implement an immigration agreement signed by all 27 EU leaders on Oct. 16.
The accord allows for easier relocation of people granted international protection and speedier repatriation of migrants who don't qualify, said Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, Malta's minister of justice and home affairs.
``Malta has to have more help, better help,'' said Joanna Drake, the EU's chief representative in the capital, Valetta. ``The problem of illegal immigrants in Malta is growing bigger and the present remedies are not stemming the influx.''
December Meeting
The foreign ministers of Malta, Italy and Libya, a departure point for African immigrants, plan to meet in December to discuss the matter, the Maltese government said on Oct. 29.
Malta now accepts about two-thirds of arrivals seeking protection, triple Europe's average rate. A record 2,522 immigrants arrived in the country from January to September, the government said. From 2002 to 2007, Malta received about 6,900 immigrants and granted residence to about half.
Malta has a population of about 400,000 living on 316 square kilometers (122 square miles), one-fifth the size of London. It ``has by far the highest national population density figure for any EU member state,'' the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs said in an e-mailed response to questions. ``The country has a small labor market prone to saturation.''
Since Malta joined the EU, protected status has become a ticket to entry into the rest of the bloc. The island also entered the borderless so-called Schengen zone on Jan. 1, allowing Maltese citizens, legal residents and visitors with valid visas to travel without passport checks in 22 EU countries to as far east as Poland and as far west as France.
Accidental Tourists
When someone is granted legal status in Malta, he or she can apply for a 90-day travel permit to go anywhere else in the EU. Many don't come back, according to Neil Falzon, head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Malta.
``All of them want to go Europe,'' said Monsignor Philip Calleja, head of the Emigrants' Commission, a church group that assists migrants. ``They end up in Malta by accident.''
Obtaining protection from persecution at home can take as long as 18 months, with migrants held in Maltese detention centers for at least part of that time. They must save up enough money to buy a ticket to somewhere else before they can get the travel permit. Some then land back in Malta.
Abdi Abdul Rashid left Mogadishu, Somalia, with his wife almost three years ago to escape civil war. They crossed Ethiopia and Sudan mainly by foot before arriving in Benghazi, Libya, 18 months later. They were arrested at the Libyan border.
Drowned Escapees
A year later, after working to save the $600 to pay for a boat to take them to Italy, they landed in Malta when their trafficker insisted crossing the rest of the way was too dangerous. At least 36 corpses have been found off the coast of Malta since June.
``We wanted to go to Europe because it is impossible to live in Somalia,'' said Rashid, 22. ``Somalia is without a government. You can't go to school, you can't get a better life. You can't go out of your house or some people will kill you.''
More than 1,000 of the people in this year's influx come from Somalia, with those from Nigeria, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Eritrea making up the bulk of the remainder, according to the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs.
Rashid has spent nine months in Malta, six weeks of it in detention. He's waiting to see whether he and his wife and newborn baby will be allowed to stay in the EU. He now lives in a center for immigrants, living off a weekly stipend from the government and picking up whatever odd jobs he can.
Odd Jobs
Gebredngle spent 18 months crossing North Africa from Eritrea before heading to Europe. He had been given money by his father, the owner of two hotels and a supermarket chain, to make the journey and avoid being drafted into the military, he said.
After being apprehended by the Maltese coastguard, Gebredngle spent six months in a detention center. Released to a low-security center, he got a job working in Sirens bar in St. Paul's Bay during the summer tourist season.
``I am doing whatever odd jobs I can to save money for the boat to Italy,'' Gebredngle said, in between waiting on tables. ``I have to find a way there.''
By Blanche Gatt
Source:Bloomberg.com
To contact the reporter on this story:
Blanche Gatt in Malta at
bgatt@bloomberg.net
http://samotalis.blogspot.com/
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