TRIPOLI, 27 August 2004 — Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi yesterday discussed ways of stopping thousands of immigrants from reaching Europe illegally every year, media reports said yesterday. After the meeting held late Wednesday in the Libyan port of Sirte, the two leaders called for closer international cooperation.
“We need to collaborate on illegal immigration and find a solution to a problem that does not simply concern Italy and Libya but the whole of Europe and Africa,” Berlusconi told reporters before returning to Italy. Thousands of immigrants from Asia and Africa brave the Mediterranean Sea every year in search of a new beginning in the European Union.
In the latest incident earlier this week, a boat carrying 275 asylum seekers claiming to be Palestinians and Bangladeshis landed on the shores of Lampedusa, an Italian island located half way between North Africa and Sicily. The immigrants, including nearly 90 children, are believed to have departed from Libya.
Libyan officials complain that they lack the resources needed to patrol the country’s coasts, which are thousands of kilometers long. The officials have also warned Italy that up to two million potential immigrants may be planning to reach the EU with boats departing from the North African country.
Rome and Tripoli recently signed an accord aimed at clamping down on immigration through joint patrols, Italy’s training of Libyan police forces and targeting criminal groups involved in human smuggling. Italy has also asked the EU to relax its trade embargo and allow Libya to purchase military equipment needed to combat human traffickers. Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, who is responsible for immigration, accompanied Berlusconi to Libya.
