For decades, Libya used to be in the news for the wrong reasons. Well, the North African country is still in the news, but for a different reason. Libyan authorities have put their feet down to tackle the country’s serious immigration problems.
To this end, the African Union, AU, the European Union, EU, and the United Nations, UN, have decided to put in place a task force in Libya to check migrant abuse in the troubled country.
The relevant officials for the four bodies – Moussa Faki Mahamat of the AU; EU Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker; its Foreign Affairs Chief, Federica Mogherini; and the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres met last week on the sidelines of the Africa – European Union Summit in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan.
At the end of their meeting, a joint news release said the EU-AU-UN Task Force aimed “to save and protect lives of migrants and refugees along the routes and in particular inside Libya, accelerating the assisted voluntary returns to countries of origin, and the resettlement of those in need of international protection.
According to the statement, “This action will build on, expand and accelerate the ongoing work done by countries of origin, and the IOM, with EU funding, which allowed so far the voluntary return to their countries of origin of 13 000 migrants since January”.
The work of the task force is to be coordinated with the ‘recognised’ Libyan authorities with the main goal of dismantling trafficking and criminal networks. It will also seek to help countries of origin and transit for migrants to tackle the root causes of migration via development opportunities and stability.
The officials acknowledged that although the AU-EU summit was targeted at African youths, the issue of migrant abuse has been thrust to the fore following the release of slave market footage in Libya, where white Libyans were selling Black Africans for as low as $400 per human.
It will be recalled that Libya was caught up in the turmoil of the Arab Spring in 2011 leading to the ousting of its leader, Muammar Gaddafi. French forces backed by NATO air and land fire power aided rebel groups to overthrow Gaddafi. Since then the country has been divided into fiefdoms held by rival political groups.
The desire by Black African youths to migrate to Europe via Libya gained great momentum following Gaddafi’s exit. Some initiatives have been undertaken to halt the rampant migration, which has led to unprecedented deaths in the Mediterranean according to aid groups working in the region.
The work of the task force is to be coordinated with the relevant Libyan authorities with the main goal of dismantling trafficking and criminal networks. It will also seek to help countries of origin and transit for migrants to tackle the root causes of migration via development opportunities and stability.
