Bartamaha(Nairobi):-A red carpet and a minister will be waiting in Paris for the passengers arriving on a chartered flight from Malta on Monday.
For the 95 refugees to be resettled in France, this will represent a new start; worlds apart from their arrival in Malta, after enduring days at sea on a crowded boat in search of a better life.
Speaking to the immigrants in the garden of his Å»ebbuÄ¡ residence, French Ambassador Daniel Rondeau told the immigrants – with the help of a Somali translator – that a new life had started for them.
“It is good news for us because we are being faithful to our value of fraternity,” Mr Rondeau said, adding that France would also be welcoming them out of solidarity with Malta.
This will not be the only group to be relocated to another EU country, as France had taken on the immigrants on condition other countries followed suit and Germany, along with eight other European countries, will this year be taking on 100 immigrants.
Along with the three cardinal values of the French motto, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Mr Rondeau added another one – laïcité, which denoted the separation of Church and State.
He told them they were free to worship whatever they wanted in their new home but that “the expression is limited in public”. For example, they could not send their girls to school with veils on, Mr Rondeau said.
Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici thanked France and French Immigration Minister Eric Besson, as well as the EU for introducing burden sharing.
“In technical jargon, we speak of burden sharing. But I prefer to use the term solidarity,” Dr Mifsud Bonnici said, pointing out that Malta did not see the problem of immigration through the materialistic point of view but from the humanitarian one.
Dressed in their Sunday – or Friday – best, the migrants were yesterday joined by people who had been close to them in Malta, while they enjoyed refreshments and took pictures of Mr Rondeau and Dr Mifsud Bonnici.
For Abdirahman, 41, who was translating the ambassador’s speech, “destiny sent me to Malta, and destiny is taking me to France”. He will be residing in Soissons, just outside Paris, and he hopes to further his education in France.
Part of him will always remain in Malta as he now calls it his second home – he had felt very welcome here.
Dressed to the nines in a new white suit and matching hat, which he bought last week, for Meyoow, 31, from Somalia, the move means a new life for his young family.
He will miss Malta, and he spoke fondly of his boss, who he said was “like a father” to him, who used to visit him when he was sick at home.
Also present at the sending-off were members of the Jesuit Refugee Service, who accompany numerous immigrants while in Malta.
Fr Joseph Cassar, from the JRS, said: “It’s not about 100 less immigrants from Malta; it’s about them rebuilding their life.”
Source:- Times of Malta.
