Italy calls Libyan tribal chiefs meeting

Rome will host a meeting with 200-300 people from Libyan society, including all tribal chiefs, which will probably take place next week, Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Thursday. "This assembly will take place in Rome and there will be between 200 and 300 people who truly represent the whole of Libya," he told Italy's TG1 television. "At the contact group meeting on Libya in Rome we had already suggested the idea of a great political reconciliation assembly which would include all the tribal representatives, from all regions and from all social circles," he said. Frattini also said Rome is set to sign an agreement on Friday with the Libyan rebel National Transitional Council on "cooperation to prevent and counter illegal immigrants, including the problems with repatriation." The European Union's border agency said Tuesday thathe Italian island of Lampedusa has replaced the Greek-Turkish border as Europe's gateway for illegal immigrants as many flee violence in North Africa. The Mediterranean island has seen thousands of arrivals of migrants and refugees by boat mainly from Tunisia and Libya this year, often in dangerous conditions that have cost lives at sea. Frattini said last week that the rule of Libya's embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi is coming to an end. "Gaddafi's rule is coming to an end," said Frattini, whose air bases are playing a pivotal role in the NATO-led air campaign against Gaddafi. "Libyans have shown to the world their determination to keep fighting for democracy and freedom," he said at the opening of an international meeting on Libya in Abu Dhabi. "Our priority is an effective ceasefire following Gaddafi's exit. Only then an inclusive political process can start, based on reconciliation," he said. "Our ultimate goal is a truly democratic Libya." Italy is Libya's former colonial ruler and is playing a pivotal role in the NATO-led air campaign against Gaddafi's forces by supplying bases for aircraft.