24.02.2011, 15:58 3601

Europe fears 300,000 refugees from Libya

European states fear that up to 300,000 Libyans could try to reach their countries as a result of the chaos in the North African country, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Almaty. February 24. Kazakhstan Today - European states fear that up to 300,000 Libyans could try to reach their countries as a result of the chaos in the North African country, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Franco Frattini, the foreign minister, said Italy was bracing for an exodus 10 times bigger than the number of Albanians who fled to Italy in the 1990s when the Balkan nation descended into anarchy, The Telegraph reported.

"We know what to expect when the Libyan national system falls - a wave of 200,000 to 300,000 immigrants," Mr Frattini said.

He said about a third of Libya's population, or 2.5 million people, are immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa who could flee if the popular revolt topples the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Those living in the eastern part of Libya might try to reach Greece, rather than Italy, because it is closer, he said.

Umberto Bossi, a minister in the government of Silvio Berlusconi and the leader of the Northern League party, threatened to dump the problem on other European countries.

"If they arrive we'll send them to France and Germany," he said.

The number of refugees and economic migrants reaching Italian islands like Lampedusa, which lies close to the coast of Tunisia, fell sharply after Silvio Berlusconi concluded a pact with Col. Gaddafi in 2008 under which the Libyan navy and coast guard intercepted boat loads of Africans.

But the UN's agency for refugees appealed to Italy not to block migrants who may flee from Libya.

Interior ministers from Italy, Cyprus, France, Greece, Malta and Spain met yesterday in Rome to ponder one inescapable fact: if a wind of protest is sweeping a region from Bahrain to the Maghreb, the hard rain it carries may well fall on Europe, The National informed.

When the Tunisian riots led not only to the fall of president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali but also to an exodus, it was to Europe and notably Italy to which the departing Tunisians fled. Alarmed, Italy offered to dispatch its own police officers, a proposition rejected as an affront to Tunisian sovereignty, and then came up with money and technical expertise, readily accepted.

Other southern European countries also fear fallout. France has ties with Tunisia, but also Morocco and especially Algeria. And the outbreak of serious protest in Morocco and simmering tension in Algeria leave France wary. Spain, too, has reason for concern.

All three countries, but particularly Italy and Spain, have pressing economic problems of their own. Public opinion demands more controls on immigration, not fewer.

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