Sub-Saharan migrants free after months of captivity. Thousands still in Libyan prisons
Considered Gaddafi’s mercenaries, they are still targeted by insurgents. Hundreds testify violence and arbitrary arrests. Sirte and Bani Walid still in the hands of the Rais. Concern about the lives of over 200 thousand people.
Tripoli (AsiaNews) - About 200 sub-Saharan migrants found freedom after months of captivity in the refugee camps on the border with Niger. In a report launched by the BBC, they tell of being subjected to violence by the rebels, because they were accused of being Gaddafi mercenaries. Due to complaints of human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, they will be repatriated to their countries.
James, 26, from Nigeria, worked for two years in a construction company. After the fall of the Rais he was captured by the rebels and accused of being a mercenary. "They thought that I was a Gaddafi supporter - he says - the rebels hate blacks because they consider them mercenaries of the regime. It is not safe for us to be in Libya. "
During the capture of Tripoli, hundreds of migrants have fled the city for fear of reprisals, finding refuge in a makeshift refugee camp, now under the tutelage of Doctors Without Borders. Interviewed by the BBC, they report that many of the rebels followed them inside the camp. To the cry of "murtazaka" ("mercenary" in Arabic), the rebels destroyed the barracks, beat and raped women and arrested the men. The same scenario also happened in other cities.
Tiziana Gamannossi, an Italian entrepreneur in Tripoli, said that after a few weeks the situation has improved. "In the capital, many migrants have returned to work”, she says, “some are used in the sanitation of the city, resumed during these days. Others have been rehired by employers."
Despite the slow return to normality and the reassurances of the NTC on the treatment of prisoners, thousands of people remained in the prisons, mostly blacks. Many of them detained without trial. They are denied the possibility of having contact with lawyers and families. A woman speaks to the BBC about the violence she suffered as a result of trying to defend her husband, who was dragged off to jail because he was considered a mercenary. "I have not heard from him so far”,– she says, “I'm afraid of everything that happens in this country. I ask the rebels to release my husband. He is innocent. He is a quiet man and not a mercenary."
In these months, the NTC has repeatedly asked its fighters to avoid unnecessary violence and bloodshed. The appeal has been raised recently, but has not been very successful. Libya is still a country at war and there is a high risk of further reprisals and revenge. In Sirte and Bani Walid, Gaddafi's last strongholds, there is still ongoing fighting between rebels and loyalists. NATO and Red Cross are worried about more than 200,000 civilians that have lived under a bombardment for two weeks, with food and water and rationed. Those who tried to escape said that the situation is chaotic. In the city there is no electricity and a high risk of epidemics. The roofs are still full of snipers that shoot at anyone, but from outside the rebels continue to launch rockets and bombs to force the last loyalists to surrender. (S.C.)
James, 26, from Nigeria, worked for two years in a construction company. After the fall of the Rais he was captured by the rebels and accused of being a mercenary. "They thought that I was a Gaddafi supporter - he says - the rebels hate blacks because they consider them mercenaries of the regime. It is not safe for us to be in Libya. "
During the capture of Tripoli, hundreds of migrants have fled the city for fear of reprisals, finding refuge in a makeshift refugee camp, now under the tutelage of Doctors Without Borders. Interviewed by the BBC, they report that many of the rebels followed them inside the camp. To the cry of "murtazaka" ("mercenary" in Arabic), the rebels destroyed the barracks, beat and raped women and arrested the men. The same scenario also happened in other cities.
Tiziana Gamannossi, an Italian entrepreneur in Tripoli, said that after a few weeks the situation has improved. "In the capital, many migrants have returned to work”, she says, “some are used in the sanitation of the city, resumed during these days. Others have been rehired by employers."
Despite the slow return to normality and the reassurances of the NTC on the treatment of prisoners, thousands of people remained in the prisons, mostly blacks. Many of them detained without trial. They are denied the possibility of having contact with lawyers and families. A woman speaks to the BBC about the violence she suffered as a result of trying to defend her husband, who was dragged off to jail because he was considered a mercenary. "I have not heard from him so far”,– she says, “I'm afraid of everything that happens in this country. I ask the rebels to release my husband. He is innocent. He is a quiet man and not a mercenary."
In these months, the NTC has repeatedly asked its fighters to avoid unnecessary violence and bloodshed. The appeal has been raised recently, but has not been very successful. Libya is still a country at war and there is a high risk of further reprisals and revenge. In Sirte and Bani Walid, Gaddafi's last strongholds, there is still ongoing fighting between rebels and loyalists. NATO and Red Cross are worried about more than 200,000 civilians that have lived under a bombardment for two weeks, with food and water and rationed. Those who tried to escape said that the situation is chaotic. In the city there is no electricity and a high risk of epidemics. The roofs are still full of snipers that shoot at anyone, but from outside the rebels continue to launch rockets and bombs to force the last loyalists to surrender. (S.C.)
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See also
Gaddafi a controversial dictator
28/03/2011
28/03/2011
