Approaching crisis point

Tiny Malta feels pressure of Med immigrant traffic, writes Robin Pomeroy in a feature published today by Reuters, with additional reporting by Nelsom Graves:

More densely populated than Bangladesh, Malta has little room to house illegal immigrants. Even the newcomers, fleeing to Europe from war and poverty in Africa and Asia, know the island is approaching crisis point. "There are 400,000 people here. The problem is the land isn't enough for the Maltese, so how about the refugees?" said Mohammed Abdull Osman, a 26-year-old Somali who like thousands of others landed in Malta in a fishing boat from Libya.

This year at least 1,800 immigrants have arrived in Malta -- a rocky outcrop barely twice the size of Washington DC at just 316 square km (122 sq mile). The wave of migration began in earnest in 2002. Most immigrants land in Malta by mistake as they try to reach the European mainland on overcrowded, wooden fishing boats or are picked up by Maltese authorities, who have a duty to save lives at sea. Just as the new arrivals don't want to be here, many Maltese would rather they were elsewhere. Critics accuse the former British colony's conservative government of having no answers...