Malta should hold itself responsible for the deaths of migrants at sea and condemning survivors to live out the rest of their lives in Libyan camps, teen activist Xandru Cassar has said in reaction to news that five migrants had died while in Maltese SAR waters. 

“Malta has shown it’s disregard for what a status of safe harbour is, it has failed on a moral level and it has failed its peoples,” Cassar told Times of Malta. 

“The country should hold itself responsible for letting people die and condemning another 47 people to torture and death in Libya.” 

Cassar spent two nights outside the office of the Prime Minister in protest of the government's decision to close ports, after a boat had been left drifting in Malta’s SAR zone for days. 

The student decided on Tuesday to suspend the demonstration after meeting with Prime Minister Robert Abela.

At the time, Cassar said he had left the meeting with Abela confident and expecting some action to be taken by the government. 

“Since then I have yet to hear back from the Prime Minister,” Cassar said. 

“The discussion was cordial, he told me there was a lack of resources as the armed forces have been diverted to assist with food distribution to people in need.”
“I challenged him with the opening of the hunting season and how additional resources were found to police that. He countered that a sea rescue operation and an operation to monitor hunting could not be compared.” 

“We had a respectful political discussion about it but ultimately we both stood our ground.”

Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Cassar said he also wanted to reach out and appeal to Abela on humanitarian grounds and level with him one-on-one. 

“The Prime Minister and I actually attended the same school, so I told him listen, ‘we’ve both been through it, we were brought up with the same values. I feel very strongly about this’.”
 
“I wanted to make it clear to him that, if the government chose to allow people to die and leave them at sea, it would be another step down a horrible path for Malta and it’s reputation, Cassar said. 

“The last thing I told him is, ‘I know this is a lot to think about, but I encourage you to weigh it all up and think about what it means politically and what it means for people and for the future of our country’.” 

“The Jesuits always told us to think about our things and remember to pray, so I told him to pray about it.” 

Cassar says that Abela seemed to be listening intently and felt at the end of the conversation had gotten his point across. 

“I made the statement I made because when he was listening to my point of view, I truly believed that he believed he would do something about it, I felt strongly that he was going to act at that point in time,” Cassar said. 

“What I imagine happened is that when he walked out, he didn’t have the will or the strength to carry out of what he was convinced of in that last bit of our meeting. I might be mistaken, but this is the impression that I got.”