The Moviment Patrijotti Maltin (MPM) has warned the captain of a NGO-operated migrant search-and-rescue vessel currently docked outside Maltese waters that entering Malta’s ports without permission would be a de facto act of war.

“We remind the captain that there’s a difference between a spineless government which caves in and grants permission for you to dock in our country and challenging the sovereignty of the Maltese people,” MPM leader Simon Borg said in a statement. “Such action would be a clear act of war against Malta. Don’t put our backs to the wall because the MPM will respond to an act of war against Malta in kind.”

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The Eleonore vessel, operated by the German NGO Mission Lifeline, is stranded outside Malta with 101 migrants on board. Both Italy and Malta have refused to let the vessel dock, with Malta arguing that it has no legal responsibility for the migrants as they were picked up within Libya’s search and rescue region.

In an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the ship’s captain Claus-Peter Reisch said that he will land the migrants in Malta without permission as a last resort.

“Hopefully, the political situation won’t get to that stage and the people will be allowed to land quickly,” he added.

In the interview, Reisch warned that hygienic conditions on board the Lifeline are far from ideal with the migrants having to share one toilet among them.

“This ship is too small for so many people, but what could we have done? Take 60 people with me and leave the other 40 behind?” he said.

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