TRIPOLI—Italy called on Monday for migrant centers to be set up in Africa to stop a tide of asylum-seekers fleeing toward western Europe, as Rome raised pressure on its European Union partners to take a much tougher approach to immigration.

However, the internationally-recognized government of Libya rejected suggestions that the centers be sited in the country, the departure point for most migrants trying to reach Europe by sea.

The new Italian government has closed its ports to charity ships operating in the Mediterranean, saying the EU must share the burden of disembarking the hundreds of migrants who are plucked from waters each month, mostly off the Libyan coast. Italy, which lies close to Libya, has taken in 650,000 boat migrants since 2014.

“Reception and identification centers should be set up [in or to] the south of Libya,” Italy’s anti-immigration interior minister, Matteo Salvini, said on a visit to Libya on Monday.

Speaking to reporters after meeting his Libyan counterpart, Abdulsalam Ashour, and the country’s deputy prime minister, Salvini thanked Libya’s coast guard for its “excellent work” in rescuing and intercepting migrants.

In a statement, he added that the EU should fund efforts in Africa to stop uncontrolled migration to Europe.

The Tripoli-based government, which does not control the whole of Libya, was unwilling to host reception centers. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeg said that while his government was ready to tackle migration, “we completely reject any migrant camps in Libya.”

As EU leaders prepare to discuss immigration policy in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, Italy’s refusal to accept charity-run rescue ships has stranded hundreds of Africans at sea, their rescuers waiting for an EU country to accept them.

Rescue ship Lifeline, with more than 230 migrants aboard, is stuck in international waters in the Mediterranean. And a private cargo ship, the Alexander Maersk, has been waiting to be assigned a port since it picked up 113 migrants off southern Italy on Friday, the shipowner said.

The tensions have reached Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a revolt by Bavarian conservative allies who want to take a tougher line on immigration from Africa.

“The chancellor is working with European partners to discuss European solutions,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday.

In Italy, Salvini’s actions and rhetoric have been popular with voters, with his right-wing League party extending its political reach in a second round of municipal elections on Sunday.

Salvini’s opponents accuse him of playing on fear, noting that crossings have fallen sharply since last July, after the previous Italian government targeted people-smuggling networks and Libya’s EU-trained coast guard stepped up interceptions.

Around 11,000 migrants have arrived in Italy from Libya so far this year, down more than 80 percent from the same periods in 2016 and 2017, Italian interior ministry data shows.

Interceptions of migrant boats by Libya’s coast guard have surged over the past week, with almost 1,000 African asylum-seekers picked up in one day on Sunday.

The interceptions have been criticized by human rights activists because of the dire conditions facing migrants in widely lawless Libya, where they often face physical abuse including torture and rape.

“We'll do all we can to make sure it’s the Libyan authorities that patrol Libyan waters,” Salvini said, accusing some non-government rescue organizations of helping human traffickers.

France has criticized Italy’s approach, telling Rome on Monday that international law obliged it to let the stranded migrant rescue vessel Lifeline dock.