Libya probes ‘slave market’ reports
Footage broadcast by CNN appearing to show African migrants being traded in Libya sparked an international outcry; 40 human traffickers arrested, 500 rescued in West Africa
TRIPOLI: Libya’s Un-backed government said on Thursday it was investigating reports of African migrants being sold as slaves and promised to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Footage broadcast by CNN appearing to show African migrants being traded in Libya sparked an international outcry and protests in Europe and Africa.
“There have been direct instructions issued to form an investigative committee so as to uncover the truth and to capture the wrongdoers, and those responsible, and put them before the judiciary,” Libyan Interior Minister Aref al-khodja told journalists in Tripoli.
“We are now currently waiting for the results of the investigations which I believe are coming to a close.” The CNN video showed what it said was an auction of men offered to Libyan buyers as farmhands and sold for $400, appearing to conirm earlier reports of the existence of markets for trading migrants in Libya.
Many Libyans reacted with anger to the outcry, with some pointing to a European push to stop migrants from crossing the Mediterranean to Italy that activists say has resulted in a worsening of conditions for migrants inside Libya.
“We call on local and international bodies to cooperate with the Attorney General’s Ofice and provide any information that helps to reveal the truth,” the Un-backed government’s presidency said in a statement.
“We, in Libya, are victims of illegal migration and we are not a source for it,” it added, appealing to foreign powers to help stop lows from migrants’ countries of origin and across Libya’s southern borders.
The UN Libya mission said on Wednesday it was “actively pursuing the matter with the Libyan authorities to set up transparent monitoring mechanism that safeguards migrants against horriic human rights abuses.” Under pressure from Italy, the Un-backed government has co-opted local groups and tried to bolster Libya’s coastguard to stem the record lows of migrants crossing the Mediterranean since 2014.
Though sea arrivals to Italy are down almost a third this year, this week was marked by a surge in rescues after several days of bad weather, and one body was recovered, Italy’s coast guard and humanitarian groups said.
Forty people were arrested and 500 people rescued after a swoop on human traficking across West Africa, international police organisation Interpol said on Thursday.
The Interpol-led action comes amid a global outcry sparked by footage of Africans being solved as slaves in Libya, often the inal transit for migrants wanting to reach Europe.
In a statement, Interpol said that some 500 people, including 236 minors, had been rescued in simultaneous operations across Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal. Forty suspected trafickers were arrested.
“The results of this operation underline the challenge faced by law enforcement and all stakeholders in addressing human traficking in the Sahel region,” said the operation’s coordinator Innocentia Apovo.
The 40 arrested face prosecution for offences including human traficking, forced labour and child exploitation.
“They are accused of forcing victims to engage in activities ranging from begging to prostitution, with little to no regard for working conditions or human life,” the statement said.