Leaders at an EU-Africa summit called Thursday for the immediate evacuation of nearly 4,000 distressed African migrants in Libya under a new drive to fight slave traders and traffickers. Wrapping up a two-day summit in Ivory Coast's economic capital, a top African Union (AU) official said there could be as many as 700,000 Africans stranded in Libya, where many have suffered atrocities and even been sold into slavery.
He said a fact-finding mission had seen one camp in Tripoli where all the residents, numbering several thousand, were "living in inhumane conditions" and were desperate to return home. "We have agreed, along with the EU and the UN, to set up a task force for repatriating at least 3,800 people," Moussa Faki Mahamat, head of the AU Commission, told reporters.
"But it's just one camp... the Libyan government tells us that there are 42 in all. There are definitely more than that. There are estimates of 400,000 to 700,000 African migrants in Libya." The summit, gathering more than 80 nations of the African Union and European Union (EU), had been showcased as a bid to boost development in Africa as it faces a population crunch.
But it was largely overshadowed by shock TV footage of black Africans sold as slaves in Libya, prompting protests in many countries and demands for action. Closing the summit, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara said the "inhumane treatment of migrants" required responses that "match our condemnation." He called on humanitarian aid, new efforts to fight human trafficking, and solutions for the poverty that prompted so many young Africans to risk the trek to Europe in search of a better life.
In a meeting late Wednesday, the leaders of Libya, France, Germany, Chad, Niger and four other countries agreed on a plan to allow migrants facing abuse in Libyan detention camps to be evacuated within days or weeks, mostly to their home countries. French President Emmanuel Macron, who called the slave trading a crime against humanity, said Libya agreed to allow access to the camps "where scenes of barbarism" had occurred and have them repatriated.
They also offered increased support for the International Organization of Migration (IOM) to help those who want to return to their home countries, said Macron, who called the emergency meeting. In some cases they could be given asylum in Europe, he added.
IOM Europe Director Eugenio Ambrosi told AFP that the new campaign was a "step in the right direction," although he said slave trading and other abuses also happened outside government control. The agency, he said, could repatriate all 15,000 economic migrants in the Libyan government-controlled camps within two months if their home governments swiftly provided proper documents enabling them to travel.
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