TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi accused Europe of deliberately provoking the drowning of illegal African migrants as they attempt to reach Europe by sea, the official JANA news agency reported on Friday.

"Dozens (of migrants) die and hundreds drown or are drowned deliberately," the official Libyan news agency quoted Kadhafi as saying during a meeting on Thursday with African Union leaders.

"Europe is trying to defend itself and is doing everything to prevent the migrants from reaching its shores," Kadhafi said without mentioning any one European nation.

He claimed that Europeans were "overturning" boats full of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea during what he alleged were fake rescue operations.

"This tragedy is real. A war is being waged in the Mediterranean against the Africans," Kadhafi said.

The Italian interior ministry recently said that 16,482 illegal immigrants landed in Italy last year, adding that they probably came from Libya.

With 1,770 kilometres (1,100 miles) of coastline, Libya is a popular jumping off point for people seeking to reach Europe from elsewhere in Africa. Malta and the Italian island of Lampedusa are only a few hundred kilometres away.

Oil-rich Libya has a native population of six million, with an estimated one million more people living there illegally. In January, Tripoli announced a massive operation to round up and repatriate illegal aliens.

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