ROME: Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, on a visit to Rome, said Monday the EU should pay Libya "at least five billion euros a year" to stop clandestine immigration and avoid a "black Europe."
Kadhafi’s visit to mark the second anniversary of a friendship treaty with former colonizer Italy had already stumbled into controversy after he said Europe should convert to Islam.
Speaking at a ceremony here late Monday standing next to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Kadhafi said his plan to "put an end to" illegal immigration was backed by Italy, but Berlusconi remained silent.
Backing Libya’s request for cash would be in the interests of Europe which otherwise "tomorrow, with the advance of millions of immigrants, could become (another) Africa," Kadhafi affirmed.
Libya "is the entry door for unwanted immigration" which should be "stopped at the Libyan borders," he went on.
"Tomorrow Europe might no longer be European and even black as there are millions (of Africans) who want to come in," Kadhafi argued, describing the migratory movements as "something very dangerous."
"We don’t know what will happen, what will be the reaction of the white and Christian Europeans faced with this influx of starving and ignorant Africans," the Libyan firebrand said, adding: "We don’t know if Europe will remain an advanced and united continent or if it will be destroyed as happened with the barbarian invasions."
But Kadhafi insisted: "There is also desirable immigration. There are Libyans who have money and I encourage them to come to Italy to invest."
Kadhafi, who came to power after the overthrow of the monarchy 41 years ago, landed in Italy on Sunday to mark the second anniversary of a friendship treaty signed with Berlusconi that drew a line under the countries’ bitter colonial-era relationship.
Ties between Rome and its former colony have deepened since the signing of the friendship accord, with Italy now the third largest European investor in the North African country.
Italy has said it will invest five billion dollars and build a 1,700 kilometer (1,050 mile) highway in Libya to compensate for its three decades of colonization from 1911 to 1943.
The two countries also reached an agreement that allows the Italian navy to intercept illegal migrants at sea and return them to Libya, triggering sharp criticism from the United Nations’ refugee agency and human rights groups.
Berlusconi credited good relations between Italy and Libya "for countering with success the trafficking of illegal migrants from Africa to Europe controlled by criminal organizations."
He did not reply to the concerns of the human rights groups.
In earlier controversial comments, Kadhafi said Sunday Europe should convert to Islam during a lecture to a group of 500 young women hired and paid by an agency to attend his lecture.
"Islam should become the religion of all of Europe," one of the women quoted Kadhafi as saying in the Italian press.
The agency paid the women, mainly students who hire themselves out for advertising of publicity events, 70 or 80 euros (90 or 100 dollars) to attend and said it would not pay girls who gave their names to the press.
It also told them to dress conservatively for the lectures.
About 200 women on Monday gathered at the Libyan cultural centre in Rome to attend a second lecture.
One of the women present said that Kadhafi had said at the gathering that "women are more respected in Libya than in the West" and offered assistance in finding Libyan husbands.
The lectures are "a new, humiliating violation of Italian women’s dignity," opposition lawmaker and former health minister Rosy Bindi said.
Kadhafi’s show also caused discomfort within the coalition of Berlusconi, a close ally of the Libyan leader.
"Kadhafi’s words show his dangerous Islamization project for Europe," said European MP Mario Borghezio of the anti-immigrant Northern League, junior partner in the coalition, according to Il Messaggero.
Berlusconi and Kadhafi met privately for 30 minutes on Monday, during which Kadhafi confirmed the policy of opening Libya to Italian investment, a member of Berlusconi’s staff said.
After the meeting, the two men toured a photography exhibition tracing the history of the Italian-Libyan relationship, including the bloody colonial period.
Kadhafi travelled, as usual, with a Bedouin tent for his accommodation which was pitched in the gardens of the residence of the Libyan embassy in Rome.
Kadhafi was set to return to Libya on Tuesday morning, according to sources with knowledge of the visit.
