Thousands of black African workers raped and killed in Libyan

The Federal government of Nigeria has condemned the killing of Black Migrant workers in Libya. In a statement released to newsmen and made available to elombah.com, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the reported killing of black migrant workers including Nigerians and other Africans by Libyan rebels as worrisome. The statement issued by the ministry’s spokesperson, Mr. Damian Agu, reiterated the Federal Government’s support for the Libyan people but urged the rebels’ leaders to check the excesses of their men. The statement says, “Reports revealed outright killings, rape and extortion of money from these helpless Africans who have taken refuge in camps, as well as those in detention and incarceration. “This development is a deviation from the overall expressed desire of the Transition National Council, the African Union and indeed the United Nations for the restoration of democracy and good governance in Libya.” The Federal Government said the extra-judicial killings ran contrary to Nigeria’s call for the leadership of the TNC to be magnanimous in victory. “While confirming that the concern of the Nigerian Government on this reported development has accordingly been brought to the urgent attention of the representatives of the TNC, the Government again seizes this opportunity to call on the leadership of the TNC to immediately take steps to check the excesses of these unscrupulous elements in Libya in order to pave way for the restoration of genuine democracy and true reconciliation.” Libya's Rebel forces and armed civilians are reported to be rounding up thousands of black Libyans and migrants from sub-Sahara Africa, accusing them of fighting for ousted strongman Moammar Gadhafi and holding them in makeshift jails across the capital. Virtually all of the detainees say they are innocent migrant workers, and in most cases there is no evidence that they are lying. But that is not stopping the rebels from placing the men in facilities like the Gate of the Sea sports club, where about 200 detainees — all black — clustered on a soccer field this week, bunching against a high wall to avoid the scorching sun. Nigeria says It is disturbing that innocent black migrant workers including Nigerians and Ghanaians, who have nothing to do with Gaddafi, are being targeted and killed by Libyan rebels. Earlier on Tuesday, Senator Babafemi Ojudu has called on President Jonathan and the international community to impress on Libyan's to stop the killing, declaring that there was absolutely no need for them to be killing other nationals who are dark in complexion in a manner that portrayed them as blood thirsty racists since they claimed that they were fighting for freedom from oppression. He noted that several reports had shown that black migrant workers from countries like Nigeria, Ghana and other nations had been killed in their numbers, as their dead bodies littered the streets of Libya. It was reported that the rebels might suspect that the black workers were among the mercenaries Moammar Gaddafi hired to fight against his people. But Ojudu said that such an excuse was not acceptable, saying innocent persons should no longer be wasted by the rebels while asking world leaders to step into the matter urgently. He urged President Goodluck Jonathan to caution the rebels since he had openly endorsed the National Transitional Council.While condemning the criminal act, the lawmaker maintained that “world leaders must, as a matter of urgency, step in to caution the supposed freedom fighters before it gets out of hand.” Ojudu, who explained that the African Union had attributed its refusal to endorse the NTC to the senseless killing of migrant blacks, urged Jonathan “to set a clear line between the fight against oppression and racism.” He said if the rebels did not stop the act at once, they would have successfully told the whole world that they were racists and not freedom fighters. However, the rebels' National Transitional Council Thursday called on fighters not to abuse prisoners and says those accused of crimes will receive fair trials.The African Union and Amnesty International have protested the treatment of blacks inside Libya, saying there is a potential for serious abuse. Aladdin Mabrouk, a spokesman for Tripoli's military council, said no one knows how many people have been detained in the city, but he guessed more than 5,000. While no central registry exists, he said neighborhood councils he knows have between 200 and 300 prisoners each. The city of 1.8 million has dozens of such groups. Justice Minister Mohammed al-Alagi told reporters this week that he'd visited several detention centers and found conditions "up to international standards." "We are building a Libya of tolerance and freedom, not of revenge," he said. Oil-rich but with a relatively small population of 6.6. million, Gadhafi's Libya welcomed hundreds of thousands of black Africans looking for work in recent decades. Many young citizens of Mali and Niger who flocked to Libya in the 1970s and 1980s were recruited into an "Islamic Legion" modeled on the French Foreign Legion. In addition, Gadhafi's military recruited heavily from black tribes in Libya's south. Elombah.com