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Italy government split over Libya airstrikes

Arab World Materials 27 April 2011 16:17 (UTC +04:00)

Italy's government on Wednesday faced an internal row over Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's announcement that the Italian military would participate in the NATO-led airstrikes in Libya, DPA reported.

The Northern League, the ruling conservative coalition's junior partner, is opposed to Italian military involvement in Libya on the grounds that an intensified conflict in the North African country would trigger an exodus of migrants towards Italy.

"The biggest concern is that what could derive is an invasion of refugees and illegal migrants," Northern League parliamentary whip Marco Reguzzoni said.

More than 23,000 Tunisians have arrived in Italy following the January uprising in their country and Italian officials have warned of more arrivals amid the ongoing unrest in the North African region.

On Tuesday, Northern League leader, Reforms Minister Umberto Bossi, said Italy was becoming "a French colony" by accepting French requests for greater Italian participation in Libya while not obtaining in exchange a commitment from France to share in the burden of accommodating arriving migrants.

At a meeting in Rome Tuesday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Italian premier reiterated his country's intention - first expressed during a telephone conversation with US President Barack Obama on Monday - to assist its allies with the "targeted airstrikes" aimed at protecting the Libyan population.

Italian Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa, a member of Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, said he did not believe the Northern League's stance posed a threat to the government's ability to stay in power.

La Russa, in an interview with private television station Canale 5 on Wednesday, said the Northern League was aware that the ruling coalition can't afford "fractures" in parliament where it has a slim majority.

The Northern League, which campaigns on a federalist ticket, has a history of dissenting over Italian military missions abroad. In the past it has made repeated calls for a withdrawal of Italian troops from NATO operations in Afghanistan and from the United Nations' peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

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