ROME - The story of the 250 Eritreans held in Libya after fleeing their country is nearing a solution, thanks to the signing of an agreement that provides that they will be set free and will receive the right of residency in exchange for work in Lybia. The Eritreans have beeb held in a detention centre in Brak, from where they reported that they had been mistreated. That is why they asked the help of Italy and Europe to include them in a programme that will grant them the status of refugees.

The signature of the agreement was confirmed both by Italian minister for Relations with Parliament Elio Vito and Foreign ministry undersecretary Stefania Craxi. During a Senate hearing Craxi stated that ''the Italian government never backed away from raising awareness within Libyan authorities on the topic of human rights'', and added that the EU, which has been absent to date, must ''intervene'' in such cases. ''Italy is ready to welcome some of the 250 Eritrean citizens currently in Libya under certain conditions'', but ''ee expect other EU States to do the same'', Stefania Craxi added.''It is thanks to the Italian government if the UNHCR activities in Tripole have started again, albeit in an informal and conditioned way", she also pointed out. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini stated that ''it is unbelievable that Brussels did not even make a press release''. ''We worked in silence, without proclamations, sadly with the total and absolute absence of Europe. We asked for a compromise, a mediation and the result came'', Frattini added. Commenting on the statements made by certain Eritrean refugees held in Libya, who claimed that they had previously been turned away from Italy, Frattini also noted that "it is very curious that people who claim that they have been imprisoned and tortured had satellite phones with which they could speak to half the world".

Minister of the Interior Roberto Maroni also spoke about the fate of the 250 Eritreans, stating that ''the Italian government has no responsibility whatsoever'' and later adding that it has not been proven that they were part of the 850 migrants that Italy rejected and sent towards Libya''. But Savino Pezzotta, president of the Italian committee for refugees (Cir), believes that some of the Eritrean refugees jailed in Libya ''were rejected by Italy in 2009 and others were sent home to Libya following an Italian request made this year". That is also why, he added, "the most punctual proposal" for the Eritreans that have been held up to now in the Braq jail in Libya "is their resettlement in Italy". "More than 100 of us wanted to reach Italy and were turned away by Italian authorities" is instead what an Eritrean citizen locked up in the Braq jail told CNRmedia over the phone. He explained that the group's objective was to seek the status of political refugees, but he added that "we were turned away by the Italian Coast Guard without even a look at our papers". Commenting on the agreement to allow them to work in Libya, he added that "We do not want to stay to work in Libya because this country does not recognise the status of political refugees. At any time we could be deported to Eritrea". According to Jana, the Libyan press agency, 140 Eritreans held in Braq already signed the papers by which they accept the Libyan government's offer of "socially useful work in exchange for freedom". (ANSAmed).