Malta's deputy PM says his country is ready to help Libya

Source: Xinhua| 2019-11-12 23:54:15|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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VALLETTA , Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Malta's Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne said on Tuesday that his country is ready to join other European countries in helping Libya solve its internal problems.

Fearne made the remarks when asked about reports from last Sunday saying that Malta's armed forces had negotiated an agreement that would see it coordinating with the Libyan coast guard to intercept migrants heading towards Maltese territorial waters.

"Their internal problems remain their own, but we are ready to help," he said.

Strategically situated between Libya and Italy, Malta is on the front line of the migrant crisis.

Maltese Foreign Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela made similar comments during Monday's EU Foreign Affairs Council, telling representatives that Malta would continue supporting the UN-led process, spearheaded by the UN's Special Representative for Libya and the head of the UN's Libyan support mission.

An unnamed government official told Times of Malta, an English-language daily newspaper in Malta, "We reached what you could call an understanding with the Libyans. When there is a vessel heading towards our waters, the AFM coordinates with the Libyans who pick them up and take them back to Libya before they come into our waters and become our responsibility."

The government source went on to say that had the agreement not been reached, Malta would have been "drowning in migrants".

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