Princewill Odidi|5 December 2017
I was a bit concerned a few days ago when President Trump refered to the stories of slavery coming out of Libya as fake news. For Purposes of clarity and especially to my fans, let me give you an explanation of the situation to enable you arrive at an objective opinion.
Over the years, even when Gaddaffi was alive, Libya had been the escape route of African refugees to Europe. People move from several African Countries, congregate in Libya and are transported at night to Spain and Italy. But all this changed when Ghadaffi was removed.
The new UN back government in Libya in an attempt to gain friendship with Europe and cement their legitimacy decided to enter into a deal with Italy and France to block the escape routes and to allow Italian Marines to operate in Libyan sea waters.
This singular action has caused so many Africans trapped in Libya as they cannot travel again to Europe. The people that houses these immigrants in Libya are Cartel syndicates.
Usually, they are meant to house this Immigrants for about 7 to 10 days and then find a way to transport them to Italy or spain at night.
But with Italian and French Marines now operating openly in Libyan waters, holding time has increased to almost 9 months and the holding agents cannot afford to continue feeding these immigrants, and since to them it was a form of investment, they resort to sell the immigrants to other holding housing for a fee.
Some Nigerians also partner with some Libyans to own holding houses in the outskirts of Tripoli where these immigrants are kept. Once in a while, Libyan authorities raid these holding houses rescue the immigrants and send them to Libyan prisons awaiting deportation that will never happen.
These Cartels operate in very coded fashions and in territories that the Libyan armies cannot easily penetrate to rescue the immigrants. While in captivity waiting to be sold to other holding houses, some immigrants attempt to escape, thats what you see on youtube how they are rather killed by the captors who feel they have invested on them. Usually these captors hand them over to other syndicate groups in Europe when they succeed in crossing, and the European syndicate groups employ these people either as prostitutes or factory workers in Spain and Italy to make back their money.
How to understand this is comparable to saying Boko Haram hold some people hostage in Sambisa forest, trying to ship them to Chad. It will be hard for Nigerian army to rescue them, thats why the Libyan authorities keep saying theres nothing they can do about the situation.
There is also the second set of refugees in Libya. These ones where deported from Europe to Libya by France, Spain and Italy. They are kept in special Camps. Majority of those in this capacity had actually crossed over to Europe, some were removed from refugee camps in Italy and Spain, but were sent back on the pretense that they should stay in Libya until their refugee status are determined by Europe. Some in this category have been in Libya for more than 2 to 3 years. They have been forgotten while their friends and family think they are overseas.
So long as Italian French and Spanish ships keep patrolling the waters of Libya, the problem continues. So now, you understand why Trump called it fake news. The real people to blame for the Libya issue is Europe not Libya. Few African governments that sent planes to Libya to lift their citizens lifted those refugees held by the UN, that is those under refugee watch list that were relocated by Europe back to Libya. The real immigrants that are being sold daily in the human trade are in safe locations after being converted to commodities. No rescue plane can evacuate those ones without a fight. It is those ones that some African countries are mobilizing soldiers to engage the armed syndicate groups comparable to Boko Haram.
One thing i have to come to realize over the years is that there is no evil in Africa without the footprints of the white-man, the Libyan slave trade is not an exception.
Who really do we blame? The immigrants in search for greener pastures, the nigerian middlemen, the Libyan holding agents or the Europeans who have barricaded their waters preventing entries?
Princewill Odidi is a Social Commentator writing from Atlanta
