Tuesday, April 11th., 2017
IOM Reveals Slave Markets Operate in Southwestern Libya
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The report of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) showed that there are slave markets in Northern Africa, in which hundreds of African migrants and refugees bound for Libya are being sold.
MOSCOW
(Sputnik) — The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported
on Tuesday about the existence of slave markets in Northern Africa,
in which hundreds of African migrants and refugees bound for Libya are
being sold.
The report emerged amid the rescue of a number of sub-Saharan
migrants after they had been sold and held captive for months in slave
markets in Sabha in southwestern Libya.
The
African captives, in particular, are being forced to call their
relatives and request that they pay for their release, the IOM said
citing a witness.
According to the IOM, the staff in Libya has managed to gain access
to several detention centers where migrants who fall into the hands
of smugglers face systematic malnutrition, sexual abuse and even murder.
Lybia serves as one of the main transit points for African migrants seeking passage to Europe to escape violence and poverty in their native homelands.
"Over the past few days, I have discussed these
stories with several who told me horrible stories. They all confirmed
the risks of been sold as slaves in squares or garages in Sabha, either
by their drivers or by locals who recruit the migrants for daily jobs
in town, often in construction, and later, instead of paying them, sell
their victims to new buyers. Some migrants – mostly Nigerians, Ghanaians
and Gambians – are forced to work for the kidnappers/slave traders
as guards in the ransom houses or in the ‘market’ itself," an IOM Niger
staffer said as quoted in the report.
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AFP 2017/ ARIS MESSINIS
Lybia serves as one of the main transit points for African migrants seeking passage to Europe to escape violence and poverty in their native homelands.