Mediterranean frontline

Malta is now on Europe's new Mediterranean frontline for African emigrants, writes Mike Donkin for BBC News:

In Malta's historic harbour a grey marine patrol ship cuts through the brightly painted tourist craft to land what has become a routine - and tragic - human cargo. Huddled, damp and exhausted on deck are 21 Somali emigrants plucked from a leaky open boat after a grim voyage from Libya. They are among nearly 1,700 emigrants from Africa who have been rescued off Malta's shores so far this year. Another 1,800 came last year. Malta - tiny and densely populated - is now on Europe's new Mediterranean frontline for African emigrants. It just cannot cope and is pressing fellow EU nations to help..

..It's a world away from Malta's preferred image as a Mediterranean sunspot. In the capital, Valletta, the horse and carriage drivers ply their trade and the pavement cafes are full of mostly British holidaymakers tucking into ice creams and sweet pastries. These visitors are welcome. They make up the thickest slice of the Maltese economy. But for most Maltese residents - like Joseph Agius, who is in the tourist trade - the other unsought influx is not..

Malta's government says the tiny island simply cannot cope and its new and powerful ally, the European Union, must help. Malta wants to see joint sea patrols and to get funds to deal with the emigrants, Deputy Interior Minister Louis Galea tells me. Most importantly, larger, richer EU nations should give homes to most of those whom an accident of geography brings to these shores. "Malta is perhaps the most densely populated piece of rock on planet Earth. We have meagre resources to deal with these problems," Mr Galea says. "It is therefore important that more EU states come up with concrete co-operation by taking more of the illegal immigrants. They may arrive in Malta, but in fact they want to settle in the European Union not Malta."...