EU row over plans for asylum camps

EUROPEAN Union leaders clashed yesterday over a plan to set up camps in North Africa to process immigrants and asylum seekers to help stop the flow of illegal migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.

Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino proposed five pilot projects to set up processing centres in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania, officials said.

But French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin said he was totally against the idea.