Eighteen refugees from Eritrea and Somalia left Malta in the past week to begin a new life in the United States.

The United States has been actively engaged in refugee resettlement from Malta since 2006 and has since resettled 707 refugees.

The latest group of refugees will be resettled in several cities across the US. Chargé d'Affaires Richard M. Mills hosted a reception or the refugges at the ambassador's residence in Attard to welcome the refugees to their new lives in America. He remarked that the US Refugee Resettlement programme represented a small contribution by the people of the United States to help alleviate the world's suffering.

This programme, he said, is a success thanks to the collaboration of the government and the hard work of the staff at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organisation for Migration and the people of the United States of America.

Once they arrive in the US, each refugee will be assigned a sponsor agency that provides initial services such as housing, food, and clothing, as well as referral to medical care, employment services, and other support during a transition period lasting up to two years in order to ensure integration and assimilation.