European and African nations sought on Wednesday to strengthen co-operation to stop a flood of illegal migration and narrow a wealth divide that has turned Europe in the eyes of poor Africans a promised land.
Illegal migration has become a thorny issue in Europe where politicians have made election capital with pledges to stamp it out, even though economists say more immigration is needed to make up for falling birth rates.
"No single state is able to tackle the migration question alone. We need co-operation," Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam told Reuters at the start of an international conference on migration in Tripoli. He said Libya was paying a heavy price for its position as a transit country for migrants.
"We have an estimated 2.0 million illegal migrants living in the midst of about five million people. That illegal migrant presence is a threat to our social fabric and a cause of rising crime and diseases," he added. Shalgam said Libya needs European help to secure its land borders and coast against illegal immigrants.
"Our joint approach must be based on tangible and active solidarity. This solidarity should be deep enough for it to reach out to migrants and their families," EU Migration Commissioner Franco Frattini, told the meeting.
Governments in Europe and North Africa have in the past two years stepped up security measures but thousands of Africans are still moving north to flee poverty. Many fall prey to conmen who pose as people-smugglers and hundreds have perished after setting sail in fragile boats.
The United Nations says 10,000 foreign migrants may be trapped in Morocco after the kingdom made illegal migration across the Strait of Gibraltar almost impossible by beefing up radar detection and coastguard patrols. The focus has now shifted to the south-west - where more than 26,000 West Africans have crossed dangerous Atlantic waters to the Spanish-owned Canary Islands - and to the east.
Moroccans are increasingly heading for Libya with the aim of reaching Italy, said Mohammed Khachani of the Moroccan Migration Study and Research Association. The first European Union-African Union conference on migration is intended to send a signal that the two regions can improve security co-operation on land and sea borders and address the poverty that is forcing Africans northwards.
Shalgam said the conference would make clear that Africa and EU would join forces to crack down on people-smugglers and create development opportunities for Africans to stay and work at home.