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Libya: Italy fears 300,000 refugees
Italy fears that up to 300,000 Libyans could try to reach Italian soil as a result of the chaos in the North African country.
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.
"We know what to expect when the Libyan national system falls – a wave of 200,000 to 300,000 immigrants," Mr Frattini said.
"These are estimates, and on the low side ... It is a Biblical exodus. It's a problem that no Italian should underestimate."
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.