In what could be the best news for Malta in years as it grapples with the irregular migration phenomenon, long-awaited patrols off the Libyan coast are expected to begin next month.

Joint Italian-Libyan patrols along the Libyan coastline are to begin in January with the aim of stemming the ever-rising tide of African migrants setting off from Libyan shores toward Italy and Malta, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said on Monday.

Speaking in a radio interview, Dr Maroni commented, “I am optimistic. If, as the Libyans are assuring, (patrols) begin in January, we will be able to say once and for all addio to the landings in Lampedusa,” Italian state news agency ANSA reported yesterday.

The vast majority of migrants landing in Malta and Lampedusa depart for Europe from Libyan shores.

Maroni added he had had a guarantee from Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini that the patrols, as part of a wider accord signed between Libya and Italy last year, would come into effect in January, and that an Italian delegation was currently in Libya discussing the details of the joint patrols.

The commencement of such patrols is expected to provide relief to hard-hit Malta and Lampedusa since nearly all migrants landing in Malta, and Lampedusa, begin their Mediterranean crossings from Libyan shores.

The issue of patrolling the Libyan coast has long been a bone of contention between Libya and the EU’s southern member states, including Malta, which has also had its share of search and rescue area disputes with its southern neighbour.

Once patrols begin within Libyan territorial waters, migrant vessels found departing from Libya would be turned back to shore, instead of being given the free right of passage accorded in international waters.

Both Italy and Malta have received unseasonably large numbers of migrants over recent days, and have also had record migrant landings this year. Landings on the Italian coast have soared by 55 per cent this year, while those in Malta were this year 58 per cent higher than in 2007.

On Monday Malta rescued 139 migrants – including 19 pregnant women – adrift south of the island, while since Christmas Eve some 2,400 migrants have landed in Lampedusa and Linosa, the most recent of which was a boat carrying 331 that crashed into rocks offshore Linosa.

On Saturday Mr Frattini had formally requested Libya to “intensify control operations, prevention and deterrence” of immigrants, mostly from Central Africa, passing through that country to get to Europe”.

Addressing the now dire situation on Lampedusa, Mr Maroni pledged that Italy will begin repatriating, possibly as early as last night or today, the migrants landed in Lampedusa over recent days.

Citing that “an emergency requires emergency action”, Mr Maroni said the migrants would be repatriated straight from Lampedusa, where a special identification centre would be set up, without first being transferred for identification assessments on the mainland detention centres.

It was, however, unclear how he intended circumnavigating the terms of international treaties on the rights of asylum seekers. The UNHCR yesterday said the move raised the risk of “generalised expulsions” and appealed to the Italian government to respect the rights of immigrants.

Mr Maroni added that a meeting of the so-called Quadro Group had been organised for 13 January during the EU interior ministers council to be held in Prague. Technical experts from Malta, Italy, Greece and Cyprus met recently in Nicosia, Cyprus to draw up the group’s policy document – the first concrete step toward presenting a common front within the EU on the issue of irregular immigration.

The four states have formed the so-called Quadro Group, aimed at ensuring that the momentum gained during the outgoing French EU presidency on addressing the major southern European issue is maintained across the upcoming Czech and Swedish EU presidencies.

The Quadro Group is the brainchild of Maltese Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, and Malta, which is beyond doubt the EU member state most adversely affected by the African migration phenomenon of recent years, has worked hard to get the concept off the ground.

The Group’s first ministerial meeting was held at the end of November on the sidelines of the Justice Council in Brussels, where an agreement was reached for the technical teams to meet to discuss a Maltese proposal that the Group could fine-tune and present to the Council of Ministers, possibly at the January meeting.

The Italian-Libyan joint patrols being instituted form part of a wider agreement signed between the countries in August 2007, in which 40 years of litigation was settled with Libya over damages caused by Italy during the Italian colonial era.

As part of the deal, Italy is to pay out e3.4 billion at a rate of e200 million per year for 25 years, while it will also build a new highway linking Tunisia and Egypt, traversing Libya, 200 homes for the descendants of victims. Italy’s Libyan oil contracts were renewed for another 25 years.