TRIPOLI -- Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi urged European Union leaders on Saturday to hold talks with their African counterparts on a joint strategy to stem illegal immigration, Reuters reported.

Gaddafi, a staunch advocate of the African Union scheduled to be adopted at a summit in South Africa next month, warned the EU only more development projects will help hold back a "black invasion of Europe" by illegal immigrants.

"We are honest with you in telling you that no state in North Africa will volunteer to guard the gate of Europe free of charge, because the region itself is invaded by illegal migrants from sub-Sahara Africa and it has no control over this immigration," Gaddafi said in a letter to EU leaders.

Thousands of illegal immigrants travel to Europe from North Africa, mainly through Morocco to Spain and Tunisia to Italy.

Blaming countries "from which migrants arrive in Europe will be useless, as these states are powerless to control immigration", Gaddafi said.

His remarks were from a letter he sent to EU leaders meeting on Saturday in Seville, Spain, to lay down deadlines for a common asylum policy to fight illegal immigration.

The official Libyan news agency JANA provided the text of his letter.

"Europe and Africa have to sit for talks again as they did in the Cairo Summit and resolve this issue, because its solution is not unilateral," Gaddafi added.

Leaders from the 15-member EU and the 52-nation organization of African unity held a rare summit in Cairo two years ago, at which they agreed to study ways to ease Africa's debt and other woes and issued calls for African improvements in democracy, rights and economic governance.

Gaddafi said the "perfect solution to stop the black invasion of europe" would be more European investment, more development projects, jobs and better services in North Africa and other African regions.