Italy's interior minister says some 200 Libyans have arrived by boat in Sicily in the first major influx of Libyan immigrants since the revolt began in the North African country over a month ago.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the new arrivals, coming just after the U.S. and Europe started launching airstrikes on Libya, were likely just the beginning. He said there was a very real risk of a humanitarian emergency given that almost 15,000 illegal immigrants have already arrived in Italy this year, most of them Tunisians who fled after the mid-January popular revolt.
Italy has demanded Europe as a whole share the burden of coping with the immigration flows, saying it shouldn't be expected to deal with it alone.
