ABIDJAN: Survivors of slave auctions in Libya have described a “total hell” that they would not wish on their “worst enemy” as global outrage grows over footage showing migrants being sold off in the war-torn country.
“We were slaves,” said Moussa Sanogo, a migrant who flew back to Ivory Coast from Libya this week after surviving regular beatings and forced labor in the fields.
“For the Arabs (Libyan jailers), black-skinned men are nothing but animals — animals were treated better,” said Sanogo, who spent more than four months in Libya trying to get to Italy by boat.
The North African country has long been a major transit hub for migrants trying to reach Europe.
He was just one of those who returned home with stories similar to those aired last week by US TV network CNN, which showed an apparent slave auction where black men were presented to North African buyers as potential farmhands and sold off for as little as $400 (€340).
“It was total hell in Libya,” said Maxime Ndong, one of 250 migrants flown back to Cameroon on Tuesday night.
“There is a trade in black people there. People who want slaves... come to buy them,” he told AFP.
“If you resist, they shoot at you. There have been deaths,” said Ndong, who spent eight months in Libya.
The Cameroonians flew back to Yaounde on Tuesday aboard a plane charted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as part of a project to return and reintegrate some 850 people.
Sanogo, 22, was one of about 600 Ivory Coast migrants that were returning from Libya with IOM’s support. Around 150 people landed in the capital Abidjan on Monday with the rest to be brought home during the week.
Sanogo described Libya as an anarchic country preyed on by bandits where the forces of law and order were involved in human trafficking.
“At one point, we were caught by people who said they were police,” he said.
“The police then sold me for 500 dinars (€310, $365) to a man who made me work in a tomato field for a month. You have to work.”
Sanogo fled across the desert to Niger where he was imprisoned again before finally escaping to Tunisia.
Then a people smuggler promising a path to Europe convinced him to return to Libya.
“We were captured and locked in a small room with 60 other people,” and were “not able to wash,” he said.
“When the Arabs entered they wore masks due to the smell,” he said, shaking his head at the memory.
“They are buying you. You’re there, you have been arrested, you see they are judging your price like merchandise. They bought you and you’re going to work... like a slave,” he said.
“They hit you all the time — especially if you’re big like me — until the blood flows, with sticks, metal, the butt of a gun.
“For food, you are given a piece of bread and a piece of cheese, that’s all... I’m happy to be back,” he said.
“I would not wish it on my enemy.”
Another migrant, Seydou Sanogo from Abidjan, said: “You would have to see what we lived through to believe it.”
But not everyone wanted to leave Libya. One woman with an 18-month-old baby said she did not want to return to Ivory Coast.
“We were waiting for the boat. We were almost there,” said the woman, who did not give her name.
The slave auction footage has triggered an outcry across Africa, bringing to public consciousness a situation that has previously been condemned by many non-governmental groups and observers.
Music and football stars have expressed their outrage at the revelations, including Ivorian reggae singers Alpha Blondy and Tiken Jah Fakoly, as well as footballer Didier Drogba.
“It is a double indignation, a cry from the heart: I am shocked to see the children of Africa die... trying to find a better tomorrow,” said A’Salfo, lead singer of the group Magic System.
“A humiliation for Africa.”
The UN said the slavery auctions should be investigated as possible crimes against humanity, and the issue will be on agenda at an African Union-EU summit on Nov. 29-30 in Abidjan.
Migrants sold into slavery in Libya tell of ‘total hell’
Migrants sold into slavery in Libya tell of ‘total hell’
Explosion occurs at Turkish oil refinery during drills, but no casualties are reported
Mayor Tahir Buyukakin told private NTV television that the blast occurred at the Turkish Petroleum Refineries company, Tupras, in Izmit provicince during “routine drills.”
A fire was quickly brought under control by the privately owned company’s own emergency crews and no request for help was made, he said.
Video footage from the site showed smoke rising from the refinery.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.
Lebanon media reports strike on residential building south of Beirut
BEIRUT: Lebanese state media reported a strike on an apartment in the Jiyeh coastal area south of Beirut on Tuesday, more than a month into the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The official National News Agency said “a raid targeted a residential apartment in a building in the town of Jiyeh,” where an AFP correspondent said a large plume of grey smoke covered the area.
Iran says killed eight militants since attack on police in province bordering Pakistan
- Militants from the Jaish Al-Adl group killed 10 police officers during a raid in Sistan-Baluchistan province on October 26
- Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces
TEHRAN: Iran’s military has killed eight militants in an operation in the restive southeast since a deadly attack last month on a police station, state media reported Tuesday.
Militants from the Pakistan-based Jaish Al-Adl group killed 10 police officers during a raid on October 26 in Sistan-Baluchistan province — one of the deadliest attacks in the region in recent months.
Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces.
It has long been a flashpoint for cross-border attacks by separatists and extremists, opposed to the authorities in Iran.
Revolutionary Guards commander Ahmad Shafahi said “a total of eight terrorists have been killed” since the beginning of operations in the province, according to the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday.
“Fourteen other terrorists have been arrested,” including key figures involved in the attack, he said, adding security forces seized weapons and ammunition.
Shortly after the attack in Taftan county, some 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran, a report on the Tasnim news agency said four militants had been killed and four others arrested.
Late on Monday, IRNA quoted Guards ground forces commander Mohammad Pakpour as saying the attackers “were not Iranian,” though he did not specify their nationalities.
In early October, at least six people including police officers were killed in two separate attacks in the province.
Jaish Al-Adl said on Telegram they had carried out the attacks.
Formed in 2012 by Baluch separatists, the group is proscribed as a “terrorist organization” by both Iran and the United States.
Over 100 patients to be evacuated from Gaza, WHO says
- The patients will travel in a large convoy on Wednesday via the Kerem Shalom crossing
GENEVA: More than 100 patients including children suffering from trauma injuries and chronic diseases will be evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday in a rare transfer out of the war-ravaged enclave, a World Health Organization official said.
“These are ad hoc measures. What we have requested repeatedly is a sustained medevac (medical evacuation) outside of Gaza,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, adding that 12,000 people were awaiting transfer.
The patients will travel in a large convoy on Wednesday via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel before flying to the United Arab Emirates, he added, and then a portion will travel to Romania.
Iran says two French detainees held in good conditions
- In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security
DUBAI: Two French citizens detained in Iran since May 2022 are in good health and being held in good detention conditions, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said on Tuesday, according to state media.
Last month, France’s foreign ministry said the conditions that three of its nationals were being held in by Iran were unacceptable.
“According to the relevant authorities, these two people have good conditions in the detention center and are in good health, so any claim regarding their conditions being abnormal is rejected,” Jahangir said.
The spokesperson was referring to Cecile Koehler and Jacques Paris, who he said were arrested on charges of espionage and will have their next court hearing on Nov. 24.
Jahangir did not mention the third French national detained in Iran. French media have disclosed only his first name, Olivier.
In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.