Yesterday, two people drowned off the coast of Pantelleria as the Italian Coast Guard tried to rescue asylum seekers from a boat that had drifted onto rocks close to the small island’s shores.

We call it a tragedy because every life is precious. Be it that of a Somali, an Italian or a Maltese or a Libyan. We are human beings and one cannot possibly think in terms of letting people drown on the high seas.

Let us not pretend to be holier than thou. Lampedusa, Malta, Sicily and mainland Italy have long been the destination for asylum seekers who are desperately trying to escape the conflicts of Africa.

As it stands, Malta has received about 1,000 boat-people since the conflict in Libya began. We have already made it amply clear that we believe that the pre-war clandestine journeys were not only sanctioned by Gaddafi, but were also used as political leverage.

There are too many coincidences. Waves of migrants would take to the sea. Europe would complain, a deal would be struck with Italy (normally in return for cash) and the journeys would miraculously stop, at least until the next time.

But the reality is that the exodus has started, and as the seas get calmer going into the summer months, and the Libya conflict ebbing and flowing, the tide is only going to increase. People will come to Malta, Italy and its dependent islands.

Both Italy and Malta are going to have to send out their armed forces to save these people and they are going to have to be brought to the safest port of call. What we do need, is for Italy and Malta to respect each other and to work together on a European level to find a solution. Voluntary burden sharing simply will not do it. We have seen certain countries – primarily the US and France – take people on a regular basis. But others have merely taken a token number and proceeded to forget about this minor inconvenience that is migration.

The AFM has performed admirably over the past few days, after lies and unjust criticism were levelled at it by Italian politicians and its media. The army gets the job done in a professional manner, without pointing fingers and mudslinging like its Italian counterparts. The AFM also remained professional in the face of a childish outburst by Roberto Maroni and a subsequent snub by the Italian Navy when the AFM requested material assets to help in the rescue of boat-people which were to be brought to Malta. Italy must cooperate with Malta. The two nations have only seen the tip of the iceberg and things are only going to escalate. Only continued pressure from Malta and Italy can result in Europe triggering its emergency solidarity mechanism. Alone, it will be like whistling into the wind.