Italy sees 300,000 fleeing Libya turmoil
Published: Feb 23, 2011 11:42 Updated: Feb 23, 2011 17:07
MILAN: Up to 300,000 migrants from Libya could flee to Italy because of turmoil in the North African nation, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in an interview published on Wednesday.
About a third of Libya’s population, or 2.5 million people, are immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa who could flee if Muammar Qaddafi’s government falls, he told Corriere della Sera newspaper.
“We know what to expect when the Libyan national system falls — an abnormal wave of 200,000 to 300,000 immigrants. Or rather, 10 times the Albanian (refugee) phenomenon that we saw in the ‘90s,” Frattini said.
“These are estimates, and on the low side ... It is a Biblical exodus.”
As unrest across North Africa unleashed waves of migrants, Italy urged the EU to share the burden. Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants try to make the journey from the northern coasts of Tunisia and Libya to islands off Italy every year.
Italy’s interior minister met with his counterparts from five other EU countries — Cyprus, France, Greece, Malta and Spain — in Rome on Wednesday to discuss the possible impact on immigration stemming from Libya’s uprising.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini says “the consequences of the migration cannot be shouldered by Italy alone.”
The International Organization for Migration says it is difficult to estimate how many might flee Libya.
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