Salvini moots centres at Libyan border

(ANSA) - Rome, June 25 - Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Monday that hotspots for asylum seekers trying to enter Europe should be at Libya's southern, rather than in Italy. "Reception hotspots in Italy? It would be a problem for Italy and for Libya itself because the death fluxes would not stop," Salvini, who was on a visit to Tripoli, said via Twitter.
    "We have proposed reception centres situated at the southern border of Libya to prevent Tripoli becoming a bottleneck". Libyan Deputy Premier Ahmed Maiteeq uled out the prospect of the North African country hosting camps for asylum-seekers inside its territory. "We categorically reject (the idea of) camps for migrants in Libya," Maiteeq told a joint press conference following with Salvini. "It is not allowed by Libyan law".
    After returning to Rome, Salvini said that his proposal would see the centres positioned outside Libyan territory. He said the centres of "protection and identification" in North Africa, should be "at the external border of Libya".
    "Italy is asking for protection of the EU's external border," Salvini said. "They ask for the protection of the Libyan external border, quite rightly".
    European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Federica Mogherini, meanwhile, announced that she was "in contact with the pertinent UN agencies, UNHCR and IOM," on the idea of creating migrant arrival centres outside the EU. She said the UNHCR and IOM were working on a proposal of their own.