Libyan rebel chief Mahmud Jibril signed yesterday a pact with Rome on illegal migration but it will not affect the thousands of Africans who have landed in Italy after fleeing the conflict.

Mr Jibril and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini signed the document which pledged “collaboration in the fight against terrorism, organised crime, drug trafficking and illegal migration”.

The rebel National Transitional Council and Rome agreed to co­operate on the “repatriation of migrants in an irregular vsituation”.

The deal is largely symbolic as the overwhelming majority of the estimated 11,000 Africans who have arrived in Italy from Libya are protected by the Geneva Convention and cannot be repatriated.

According to figures released yesterday, only 60 of the 11,000 were Libyan.

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