Libya permits emergency evacuees after slavery uproar

Libya agreed Wednesday with key EU and African leaders to allow migrants facing abuse in detention camps to be evacuated within days or weeks, mostly to their home countries, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

The decision was taken after Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara called for “all urgent measures” to end slave trading and other migrant abuses in Libya at an EU-Africa summit in Abidjan.

The leaders of Libya, France, Germany, Chad, Niger and four other countries “decided on an extreme emergency operation to evacuate from Libya those who want to be,” Macron told reporters after their emergency talks on the summit sidelines.

The summit comes just two weeks after US network CNN aired footage of black Africans sold as slaves in Libya, sparking outrage from political leaders and street protests in African and European capitals.

“Libya restated its agreement to identify the camps where barbaric scenes have been identified,” Macron said, adding Libya’s UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez “Sarraj gave his agreement that access be assured.”

African Union, European Union and United Nations officials at the meeting offered increased support for the International Organization of Migration “to help with the return of the Africans who want it to their home countries,” said the French leader who called the emergency meeting.