French minister: 800,000 migrants in Libya seeking to come to Europe

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday that some 800,000 migrants are in Libya hoping to cross to Europe, according to the Daily Mail.

Le Drian said in an interview with Europe 1 radio that "hundreds of thousands" of migrants were in Libya, having fled conflict and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere, adding that the figure of 800,000 was "about right".

In 2015 more than a million migrants entered Europe, about half of them Syrians, with Germany shouldering most of the burden.

More than 100,000 crossed the Mediterranean Sea in the first two months of 2016 alone, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Source: MENA