Libya deports 1,000 Egyptian migrants

Libya, a key transit point for Africans trying to sneak into Europe, said yesterday it had deported 1,000 Egyptian migrants back home after their controversial expulsion from Italy.

Italy airlifted illegal immigrants to Libya this week in a bid to deter would-be asylum seekers heading to its shores in record numbers from North Africa, despite UN criticism of Rome's new fast-track expulsions.

"Italian authorities asked Libyan authorities for their assistance... Libya has accepted this demand and returned them (migrants) back to Egypt through Libya," Interior Minister Nasser al-Mabruk told reporters.

"They were returned on Italian flights and Italy is paying for the cost," he said.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi met in Mellitah, a city 110 km west of the capital Tripoli, to inaugurate a seven billion-euro gas pipeline linking the two countries.

The leaders, meeting for the third time in less than a year, were expected to discuss immigration again as well as an Italian-German proposal to set up holding centres in North Africa for refugees expelled from the EU.

"Today we begin a further rapprochement between our two countries, secured with the inauguration of this gas pipeline, which will supply 10 per cent of Italy's gas needs," Mr Berlusconi said.

Illegal immigration is a hot political issue across Europe, particularly in Italy, and Mr Berlusconi's centre-right administration has enacted tough laws to stem the number of migrants flooding its southern islands.

The expulsions followed the arrival last week of some 1,700 refugees, who arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa in rusty old boats. The island lies 120 km off the African coast.

Italian authorities believe the boats all set sail from Libya, although most of the immigrants are from other countries.

A UN spokesman said in Geneva that Italy had granted the UN refugee agency access to those remaining, but it had come "too late".