Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1110343
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 APRIL 2019 MASSIMO COSTA AS they gathered in com- memoration of Lassana Cisse Souleymane, who was mur- dered earlier in April, mi- grants spoke of the fear they are living in following the cold-blooded crime. Yesterday, migrants, friends and human rights activists laid flowers on the side of a road where Cisse was shot dead in a drive earlier this month. Cisse, 42, from the Ivory Coast, died on the spot after somebody fired shots from a car that was passing down the road where he was walking, an area which is frequently used by migrants living at the Hal Far open centre to travel towards the centre of Birzeb- bugia. Two other migrants were in- jured in the incident that hap- pened on 6 April and which shocked the migrant commu- nity in the area. The killers were driving a white Toyota Starlet and have not been caught yet. Ousmane Dicko, a repre- sentative of the Ivorian com- munity in Malta, told Malta- Today about the fear migrants were feeling in the aftermath of the murder. "We don't know how to ex- plain [what happened]. We are afraid now. We don't know who did this, and we don't know why. And the criminal is still [unknown], they haven't arrested him till now," Dicko said. "Because of this, many peo- ple are afraid… I'm speaking to you now, and I'm afraid. I don't know if someone will come to shoot me as well, be- cause I spoke on the news." Dicko said that there were other people from the migrant community who had wished they could attend the com- memoration, but couldn't, out of fear. "The two [other victims] who were injured during the crime are afraid to talk," Dicko added, as he thanked all the Maltese who had attended the commemoration in sup- port of the migrants. Ahmed Bugre, who directs the Foundation for Shelter and Support to Migrants, la- mented the fact that there had not been a clear condemna- tion by the authorities follow- ing the murder. He said that a condemnation would send a strong signal that somebody cared about what had hap- pened. "I believe the first thing the authorities should do is to condemn this act. If they con- demn the act, they are sending a very clear message to every- one in Malta, including the migrant community, which has been gripped by fear be- cause of the cold-blooded kill- ing of one of their members. They would actually say 'OK, somebody cares about it'," Bugre told MaltaToday. Moreover, the migrant com- munity has been left com- pletely in the dark as to which investigations were being car- ried out to solve the crime, he said, and nobody in authority had made a statement about it. "At the moment there seems to be silence and no informa- tion on which investigations have been carried forward and what has been done," Bugre said. "The starting point would be for someone to at least make a statement about this – that it is unacceptable in a demo- cratic society for someone to be murdered in cold blood and nothing be done about it," he added. The crowd included for- mer president Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, a handful of MEP candidates, Yana Mint- off and Fr Dionysius Mintoff, who runs the peace lab in Hal Far, which also houses a num- ber of migrants. In a brief speech, Coleiro Preca said people had gath- ered at the spot where Cis- se had been murdered to pay tribute to a person whom she called "one of our brothers". "We are here to give evi- dence that we have lost one of our brothers," Coleiro Preca said, "...Even at such terrible times, we must put our love across." She said that those gathered stood with Lassana's family, but that it was not only they who had lost someone, but that everyone had lost a mem- ber of their "human family". "Lassana will continue to be remembered through us standing up to what hap- pened," she added. University of Malta chaplain Fr Mark Cachia said people had come together in remem- brance of a life which could never be replaced. "We are here to remember. And to remember is to ac- knowledge the loss of a life... The life of Lassana, which can never be replaced," Cachia said. mcosta@mediatoday.com.mt NEWS Migrants 'gripped by fear' Commemoration for murdered Ivorian Sealed quotations will be received either via email on electoral.office@gov.mt or by hand in the tender box at the Electoral Office, Evans Building, Merchants Street, Valletta, VLT 2000 up to 10.00 a.m. of Thursday, 9th May, 2019, for: Quot. No. 02/2019 Provision of chauffeur-driven cars from Saturday 25th to Sunday 26th May, 2019 Quot. No. 03/2019 Provision of chauffeur-driven cars from Monday 20th up until Thursday 23rd May, 2019 Quot. No. 04/2019 Gozo – various transport Quot. No. 05/2019 Gozo – various transport Quotations can be downloaded from the website www.electoral.gov.mt or collected from the Electoral Office, Evans Building, Merchants Street, Valletta, VLT 2000, from 8.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. NOTICE BY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION www.electoral.gov.mt Cisse, from the Ivory Coast, died on the spot after somebody fired shots from a car that was passing down the road where he was walking