Greece urges Libya cooperation to help stop illegal migrant crossings, PM says

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday that Libya should cooperate with Greece and Europe to help halt a surge in illegal migration flows from the north African state.

Seaborne arrivals of illegal migrants in Europe from the north of Africa, including war-torn Sudan, and the Middle East have spiked in recent months.

Greece said on Monday it would deploy two frigates and one more vessel off Libya's territorial waters to deter illegal migrants from reaching its southern islands of Crete and Gavdos.

"I will inform my colleagues about the significant increase in the number of people from eastern Libya and ask for the support of the European Commission so that the issue can be addressed immediately," Mitsotakis said ahead of an European Union summit in Brussels that began on Thursday.

Mitsotakis said authorities in Libya should cooperate with Greece to stop illegal migrants sailing from there or turn them back before they exit Libyan territorial waters.

He added that the EU's migration commissioner and ministers from Italy, Greece and Malta would travel to Libya early in July to discuss the issue.

Law and order has been weak in Libya since a 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with the country divided by factional conflict into eastern and western sections for over a decade.

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; writing by Antonis Pothitos; editing by William Maclean and Mark Heinrich)