Italy Braces for Massive Libyan Exodus

Italian police patrol past a large group of Tunisian migrants on Lampedusa Island 16 February 2011

Some 300 000 Libyan refugees may head to Italy to escape from the ongoing turmoil in the North African country, Italy's Foregn Minister Franco Frattini said.

Some 2.5 million people, immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, may flee to Italy if strongman Muammar Gaddafi's government falls, Frattini admitted in an interview for Corriere della Sera , published on Wednesday.

The Interior Ministers from Italy, Spain Cyprus, France, Greece and Malta will gather in Rome Wednesday to discuss common policy on the turmoil in North Africa and make a recommendation to the European Commission.

On Sunday, the European Union sent a team of border experts to Italy to help process the flooding of illegal migrants from Tunisia. According to Italian authorities, more than 5000 people have landed on Lampedusa from Tunisia in the aftermath of pro-democracy protests that toppled Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

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