Migrant attack could be a war crime, says U.N.
BENGHAZI, Libya — An air strike hit a detention center for migrants near the Libyan capital of Tripoli early Wednesday, killing at least 44 people and wounding dozens of others in an attack that the U.N. human rights chief said could amount to a war crime.
The Tripolibased government blamed the attack on forces associated with Gen. Khalifa Hifter, whose Libyan National Army has been waging an offensive against rival militias in the capital of the wartorn North African country since April.
It refocused attention and raised questions about the European Union’s policy of cooperating with the militias that hold migrants in crowded and squalid detention centers to prevent them from crossing the Mediterranean to seek better lives in Europe. Most of them were apprehended by the Libyan coast guard, which is funded and trained by the EU to stem the flow of migrants.
Hifter’s forces said they were targeting a nearby military site, not the detention center. There also were suspicions of involvement by foreign countries allied with his forces. Countries assisting Hifter include Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Russia.
Two migrants said the air strike hit a compound that houses a weapons warehouse and an adjacent detention center holding about 150 migrants, mostly Sudanese and Moroccans. The two spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
The United Nations gave an initial figure of 44 dead and more than 130 wounded. But the two migrants said three or four escaped harm and about 20 were wounded. They said the rest were killed, indicating the final death toll could be much higher.
U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said the attack “may, depending on the precise circumstances, amount to a war crime.”
Libya became a major crossing point for migrants to Europe after the overthrow and death of longtime dictator Moammar Khadafy in 2011, when the North African nation was thrown into chaos, armed militias proliferated and central authority collapsed.
At least 6,000 migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and other nations are locked in dozens of detention facilities in Libya run by militias accused of torture and other abuses. There is limited food and other supplies for the migrants, who often end up there after arduous journeys at the mercy of abusive traffickers who hold them for ransom from their families. More than 3,000 migrants are in danger because they are held in detention centers near the front lines, the U.N. refugee agency said.