EU ministers have backed French proposals for a European pact to stem illegal immigration and attract highly skilled job-seekers, weeks after the EU decided illegal 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.

Libya, one of North Africa's gateways for migrants hoping to reach Europe, did not say what action it hoped the African Union would take.

The Foreign Ministry said the days when countries decided unilaterally the fate of other countries were over, apparently referring to Western colonisation of African states.

The European Commission estimates there are up to 8 million illegal 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 finalised in October, EU states pledge to expel more illegal immigrants while promoting legal migration and a common asylum police by 2010.