Maltese crisis as migrant tide engulfs the West

In the playground of the disused school building Ibrahim Ali now calls home, surrounded by wire netting, he is talking about the four-month journey that brought him to Malta in search of a livelihood after fleeing civil war in Somalia.

"I can't say too much because it makes me cry," he said. "There were 28 of us on the small boat that we hired in Libya. I had to pay more than €1,000 (£680). We spent six days in rough seas with no food. Three people died." His voice trails off. "Can you help me?"

The people who can help 25-year old Mr Ali, and the 400 other illegal economic migrants from Africa in the camp who have ended up by accident on this tiny Mediterranean island, will be meeting in Malta, a few miles away at the five-star Golden Sands hotel for three days from today. The closed-door meeting of Commonwealth leaders from 53 countries should provide a unique forum for the rich countries, which have become the destination of the migrants and asylum-seekers from the developing world, to hold a meaningful dialogue with the poorer countries which are losing their most talented human resources.

Thousands of nurses, doctors and pharmacists from such Commonwealth countries as Ghana, Uganda, Botswana and Malawi have been poached by the rich Commonwealth states of Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, severely straining the medical services of the African countries struggling with the HIV/Aids pandemic.

Now, the mounting problem of illegal migration is putting a further strain on developing societies as the middle classes rush for the exit as they try to lift their families out of poverty. But yesterday, as foreign ministers debated the summit's draft final communiqué, it looked unlikely that the issue, which has become a pressing problem for the summit's host government, will merit more than a line.

Leaders such as Tony Blair and John Howard of Australia see the migration issue through the prism of terrorism, and, in short, the North-South divide remains a dialogue of the deaf.

As Africans stormed the fringes of "Fortress Europe" - arriving in Spain's Moroccan enclaves, Malta and Sicily - to get a toehold in the EU, the European Union responded in July with "emergency measures" consisting mainly of financial incentives to help Malta, Italy and Libya start joint patrols and early warning systems.

But the measures do not address the root problem causing the mass population shift, and the migrants have continued to risk drowning in ever larger numbers.

For Malta, the smallest EU country which joined only last year, the arrival of 1,600 illegal migrants since the beginning of 2005 has overwhelmed the island's resources and brought a racist backlash against the "Arabs". But Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth secretary general, has said lowering trade barriers is a more effective way of eradicating the poverty that drives people to set sail for distant shores.

That is why he backs the call from the Commonwealth's developing countries in Africa and the Caribbean for the US, EU and Japan to drop the trade barriers and open their markets as part of the trade talks culminating at the World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong next month.

"If they dropped their tariff barriers, you would take 150 million people out of poverty," Mr McKinnon said. "Despite the increases in aid, greater economic opportunity will bring people out of poverty."