Winter arrivals

300 North African migrants land in Malta, reports the International Herald Tribune:

A group of some 300 North African migrants landed in Malta early on Sunday in the biggest single arrival on the Mediterranean island in years. Police confirmed that the migrants had arrived on a boat near the fishing village of Marsaxlokk. Timesofmalta.com showed video footage of the migrants crammed on a large boat. They were being taken to detention centres by police and soldiers.

Last week Malta complained at a meeting of European Union Home Affairs Ministers that ongoing arrivals were straining its detention facilities and it appealed for other EU countries to take some of the migrants from Malta. Malta argues that the arrival of migrants as a proportion to its population is the biggest in Europe. A Church commission last year said arrivals were exceeding the local birth-rate.

The island maintains a strict 18-month detention policy to discourage arrivals, but was last week criticised by a United Nations panel for poor conditions at detention centres. Winter arrivals had been rare until this winter, when 139 migrants arrived on December 29 and another 161 were rescued by a ship and brought to Malta in early January.