Libya called on the European Union to revise new rules against illegal immigration last week, saying it would urge African Union members to take action if the EU stuck by measures that treated African migrants as criminals, reports Reuters.

EU ministers have backed French proposals for a European pact to stem undocumented immigration and attract highly skilled job-seekers, weeks after the EU decided undocumented immigrants could be detained for up to 18 months and face a 5-year re-entry ban.

“Africa will not accept any law based on repression and in dealing with African migrants, including children and disabled people, as criminals,” Libya's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Libyan news agency Jana. “If they insist to keep the stand unchanged, Libya will consult with other African Union members to study this (EU) law and its repercussions and take a unified position on the move,” the ministry said.

The European Commission estimates there are up to 8 million undocumented immigrants in the 27-nation European Union. More than 200,000 were arrested in the EU in the first half of 2007 with just under 90,000 expelled.

The 18-month detention limit is longer than the current maximum period in two-thirds of the EU states. Although EU states can keep a lower limit if they want, rights groups say it will encourage authorities to lock up more illegal immigrants.

Under the migration pact, to be finalized in October, EU states pledge to expel more undocumented immigrants while promoting legal migration and a common asylum police by 2010. 

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According to The Brisbane Times, sixteen desperate Nigerian jobseekers died and 21 were seriously injured during recruitment exercises across the country for the immigration service.  In Enugu, South-East Nigeria, the victims died in an exercise to open a gate, the Controller of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in Enugu State, David Paradang, said last week.

An eyewitness told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that 500 candidates were told to race to a venue and that only the fastest would be considered for the next stage of recruitment.   "We found the place locked and decided to try to force the gate open...but many passed out in the process," he said. 

An additional twelve people died across the country last month during the fitness exercises, including a pregnant woman.

The immigration service was screening 197,000 applicants jostling for 3,000 jobs.