Libya to probe slave auction video

tripoli — Libya will investigate an alleged slave trading in the country, the government announced on Sunday, following the release of a video footage appearing to show migrants being auctioned off.

Chaos-ridden Libya has long been a major transit hub for migrants trying to reach Europe, and many of them have fallen prey to serious abuse in the country at the hands of traffickers and others.

US television network CNN aired the footage last week of an apparent live auction in Libya where black men are presented to North African buyers as potential farmhands and sold off for as little as $400.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Metig said his Government of National Accord would investigate the allegations, in a statement posted on Sunday on the Facebook page of the GNA’s press office.

Metig said he would instruct the formation of a “commission to investigate these reports in order to apprehend and bring those responsible to justice”, the statement added.

The CNN report apparently showing migrants being auctioned off in Libya was shared widely on social media, provoking outrage.

The grainy footage shot on a mobile telephone shows a man CNN said was Nigerian and in his 20s being offered up for sale as part of a group of “big strong boys for farm work”.

In the CNN report, a person identified as an auctioneer can be heard saying “800... 900... 1,000... 1,100...” before two men are sold for 1,200 Libyan dinars ($875).

Around 1,000 people took to the streets of Paris on Saturday to protest against slavery in Libya, according to French police.

Guinean President Alpha Conde, who is also chairman of the African Union, on Friday called for an inquiry and prosecutions relating to what he termed a “despicable trade... from another era”.