Italy: Fears of Libyan 'Biblical exodus'

Italy: Fears of Libyan 'Biblical exodus'

Via Reuters:
Up to 300,000 migrants from Libya could flee to Italy because of turmoil in the North African nation, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in an interview published on Wednesday.

About a third of Libya's population, or 2.5 million people, are immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa who could flee if Muammar Gaddafi's government falls, he told Corriere della Sera newspaper.

"We know what to expect when the Libyan national system falls -- an abnormal wave of 200,000 to 300,000 immigrants. Or rather, 10 times the Albanian (refugee) phenomenon that we saw in the '90s," Frattini said.

"These are estimates, and on the low side ... It is a Biblical exodus."

(source)