The country was shocked when it learnt that two members of the Armed Forces of Malta were the main suspects of the cowardly drive-by shooting last month in which an Ivorian man, Lassana Cisse, was killed and two other migrants were injured. They are now facing criminal charges over the racially-motivated incident and have, rightly, been suspended from duty.

The AFM has established an internal inquiry which, inter alia, is tasked with ascertaining whether Mr Cisse’s murder and the shooting of the two other migrants were an isolated event or if there are xenophobic cells or affiliations with racist groups within the force.

In examining the reasons for this racially-motivated murder, it is impossible to escape the fact that the AFM (and the other major disciplined force in Malta, the police) recruits its members from the community in which they have been brought up, educated and where they socialise. Evidence has been mounting that racism in Malta is rife. There is increasing anecdotal and research evidence to support the contention that the country suffers from both latent and explicit racism in its treatment of the thousands of black Africans who have been given asylum or protected status in this country.

Studies by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and human rights NGOs have found that the large proportion of migrants who have been granted asylum or protection in Malta have no Maltese friends or acquaintances. Many live separate lives from their Maltese neighbours and rarely engage in social intercourse with them. These are circumstances conducive to a situation whereby an individual could be so infected by the virus of racial hatred that one is led to take the kind of extremist action the two soldiers allegedly committed on April 6.

Racism presents the ugly face of Malta. The AFM commander’s task now is to ensure that any indication that racism has taken root in the force is exposed and then ruthlessly cut out. His clear message to all officers and soldiers must be that racism has no place in a disciplined force of the calibre and with the history and long traditions of service to the country as the AFM and that any evidence of it among its members will be immediately and effectively stamped upon.

Moreover, the AFM’s internal inquiry should focus on practical steps to ensure that the recruitment procedures include thorough character assessment tests that identify any signs of racial prejudice. Furthermore, training and disciplinary procedures must be reviewed to drive home the message that discrimination on grounds of race is a crime that will not be tolerated.

The modern AFM’s roles focus on providing surveillance of Malta’s territory, including its vast search and rescue area, against illegal immigration, illegal drugs and fishing and other law-breaking at sea. In the performance of their tasks, the men and women in the AFM are unsung heroes who daily risk their own lives to save others and to keep Malta safe.

The alleged racist actions of two soldiers – and they must be considered innocent unless proven otherwise should not be allowed to tarnish the good work unstintingly carried out by the vast majority of soldiers in the force whose fundamental role is to protect the security and integrity of the Maltese islands in peacetime and in a crisis.

This is a Times of Malta print editorial