Libya's Colonel Gaddafi has moved to end his country's isolation
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A new migration deal between Italy and Libya has stopped thousands of people reaching Italian shores illegally, Italy's interior minister has said.
Giuseppe Pisanu was speaking in Tripoli after talks with his Libyan counterpart on implementing the landmark agreement.
He said several thousand migrants had already been repatriated, "some 4,500 of whom were bound for Italy".
The deal was reached last month between Libya's Colonel Gaddafi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Italy has already signed similar agreements with Tunisia and Albania, which have drastically reduced the number of arrivals of illegal immigrants seeking entry into the EU from those countries.
Joint patrols
The EU cancelled its embargo last week on selling military equipment to Libya, allowing Italy to provide supplies for joint operations with Libyan police.
These include night-vision equipment, military vehicles and helicopters.
Naval and coastguard personnel from both countries will also patrol together.
Mr Pisanu told the Italian parliament recently that up to a million Africans and Asians were waiting on Libyan soil for sea transport to Italy provided by people-smugglers.
Correspondents say Libya's thousands of kilometres of desert and maritime frontiers are difficult to police, but both countries have a strong interest in bringing the flood of illegal immigrants from other parts of Africa to Libya under control.
Migrants heading for the European Union illegally often end up on the island of Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost Mediterranean outpost, which is nearer to north Africa than mainland Italy. An unknown number have drowned during voyages.
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