Charlot Zahra

The Brigadier of the Armed Forces of Malta Carmel Vassallo said in an interview with this newspaper that the army has learnt “certain lessons” from the report of the inquiry carried out by Judge Franco Depasquale into the incidents that took place on 13 January last year at the Safi AFM detention centre.

“Yes, we learnt certain lessons from the Depasquale report and I, as the Commander of the Armed Forces of Malta, am obliged to review certain policies in order to improve our practices,” Brigadier Vassallo said.

“Not only did I give my testimony in the Depasquale inquiry, but I also analyzed the report and took note of our shortcomings.

“We must now make an effort to address them, which we are already doing.

“Does this mean that if something crops up again, there will not be the same problem? I would not like to see the same faults but, as in every other area of work, one could always be faced with different situations requiring different solutions.

“Training is certainly one of the mainstays of the military. It involves a whole process that takes time and many resources. A soldier has to be prepared to carry out the task at hand in an efficient and effective manner.

“You cannot climb a ladder from the first rung to the 20th in one leap, you have to climb it rung by rung.

“The problem of illegal immigration has affected us in a negative way as it takes up a significant part of our resources. We have to be careful not to let it affect our ability to give the proper training to our soldiers.

“A soldier is more suited for an emergency situation, where he goes in and intervenes so that the problem is contained, possibly reducing its effects and ideally finding a

solution.

“When the emergency is over, a soldier should be returned to his barracks to resume training according to the roles and tasks the government has assigned to him.

“Due to the problem of illegal immigration, which is hitting our small country in a big way, we have been tasked to keep illegal immigrants in closed centres until their case is decided.

“We are executing this duty to the best of our ability. Of course, it is affecting the army because in terms of numbers it is taking up about 12 per cent of our human resources to look after them in barracks. These personnel are fully employed, on a 24-hour basis with illegal migrants. If they are due for any training such as range classification, fitness tests, internal security and specialised training, we have to replace them and this is becoming quite difficult to sustain. Luckily, we now have a recruitment exercise on course, which has already been sanctioned by the government, through which we hope shall enlist a good number of young men and women interested in having a military career.

“Other essential services which the Armed Forces are tasked to provide, such as sea and air patrols, airport security, explosive ordnance disposal, key point security, support in natural disasters and SAR, cannot be neglected. In fact, we have continued to provide them despite the difficulties. We are also preparing an Infantry Company for eventual deployment overseas on humanitarian and rescue operations in order to contribute to EU Crisis Management operations.”

Has action been against those soldiers who were identified in the Depasquale report as having used excessive force?

Brigadier Vassallo said: “The Depasquale report concluded that the order to use force was legitimate in order to get the illegal immigrants back into their compound; though he said that there were some soldiers who used excessive force in the circumstances. In this context, we are taking the necessary corrective measures, as is standard practice in military organisations.

“If there was a person who was sad that the immigrants were injured on that day, it was me. There were also a number of soldiers who were injured on that day. That same evening a guard commander was hit in the forehead by a stone and had to be taken to hospital.

“Quite often, immigrants fight each other in their compounds and on various occasions the timely intervention of the soldiers guarding them proved critical in preventing very serious injuries to many immigrants.”

Asked whether he agrees that journalists should be given access to detention centres, he said: “The matter is a sensitive one as

government policy has to take into consideration security issues, protecting the identity of asylum

seekers, the difficult operations involved in managing these centres, and the specific circumstances at any particular point in time..

“There were a few occasions when journalists were given access to immigrants and in the recent protests, when I was asked to give permission for the illegal immigrants to speak to the journalists, I felt that I should say yes considering the circumstances of the day and in order to help diffuse a situation that could have gotten out of hand.

“It was a particular situation that was appreciated by journalists,” Brigadier Vassallo told The Malta Independent on Sunday.