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Gaddafi uses migrants against Europe

13 May 2011 05:03 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA.Libyan regime is allowing thousands of sub-Saharan migrants on to unsafe ships, in a calculated attempt to use migration to press NATO and the EU countries against backing Libya’s revolutionaries, a report says, APA reports quoting Press TV.

"There are hundreds of thousands on the shores of North Africa. Something extraordinary could happen any day," said a senior EU diplomat on Thursday. "If Gaddafi uses this weapon, he can create a lot of problems for Europe," The Guardian reported.

Amid fears of immigrant influx fleeing the uprising in North Africa, European countries have suggested that the EU give the Schengen unfettered travel in the continent "a second thought" and thus help the 26 participating governments restore border controls.

The border-free region embraces more than 400 million people in 22 EU countries, as well as Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland. It extends from Portugal to Russia’s borders on the Baltic, and from Reykjavik to Turkey’s border with Greece.

The policy shift was pushed by France and Italy, who have been feuding and panicking in recent weeks over a small influx of refugees from Tunisia.

However, the German government complained that the open border should not be "sacrificed for domestic political reasons."

Sandor Pinder, the Hungarian interior minister, has warned that individual countries should not be allowed to act alone in deciding to restore border controls. "That could trigger a chain reaction and shatter confidence," he said.

The European Commission has said it would scrutinize the Schengen rules to see if heightened border controls would be possible within the framework of the agreement.