
Rebels hold a young man at gunpoint, who they accuse of being a
loyalist to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, between the towns of Brega and Ras
Lanuf, March 3, 2011. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
Within the nooks and creeks, even difficult for the Libyans
themselves to find them are most probably black Africans, scared stiff to sneak
out of their hide-outs because of the inevitable confusion with “African
mercenaries” and facing mob justice. reports coming out indicate that most of
these people are living under very precarious conditions which include food and
water.
Reports on Al Jazeera show a Ghanaian migrant who claims that
black people are being caught, armed and sent to battle front, even though they
might not have an idea about what the trigger is even meant for! The effect of
the use of “foreign mercenaries”, if true, has completely poisoned the budding
Libyan Revolution. The real weapon that has been unleashed by Gaddafi is not
those miserable mercenaries, but the reduction of the dignity of the Libyan
Revolution into an insane xenophobic tantrum. The people of Libya who have aided
these Africans to escape, without even asking to be paid, need to be mentioned
and thanked and to balance the perspectives, and encourage such positive
tendencies still found within the Libyan communities and individuals who do not
see all black Africans as mercenaries.
There is no need to allow this to
draw a wedge between the democratic forces who are in charge of the on-going
struggle to free themselves from the longest ruling dictator in the world.
Gaddafi's only olive branch to Pan-Africanism has been under the condition that
we crown him as our “King of Kings”. So we are not confused at all, and can
understand why the good people of Libya would want to get rid of him. But the
People's Revolution in Libya, unlike the ones in all the other Arab countries
which have so far enjoyed our unalloyed solidarity, is being dangerously diluted
with politically toxic and and extremely alarming systematic and sporadic
attacks on black African migrants living in Libya.
The Pan-Africanist
International was among the first international organisations that cried out as
soon as the first violent attack on unarmed protesters occurred:
“We are
shocked and horrified by the reckless abandon and the extents taken by the
Libyan authorities, including reports of the hiring of foreign mercenaries to
kill and maim peaceful protesters by a leader who prides himself as being
“democratic” in his own Green Book!
As the third largest supplier of
Europe's oil, and by far the biggest customer of Gadaffi, the carnage going on
must be clearly condemned and further measures taken to ensure the will of the
good people of Libya prevails!”
The International Solidarity Committee of
the Pan-Africanist International stands firmly in support of the heroic people
of Libya. We stand with them in this great hour of need! We urgently call upon
the international community to do something now!” See:
http://www.panafricanistinternational.org/ This time
we call upon the leaders of civil societies in Libya to urgently take visible
steps to restore the right of these Africans to the same human rights they are
fighting for, otherwise their revolution is void ab initio. Already, people who
never really liked what their limited understanding of what the Libyan
revolution represents are furiously presenting all Libyans as racists. We know
that this is certainly false. But as stories of harassments continue to pour
out, these sentiments would be repeated across black Africa, particularly by
those who want to create a wedge and frustrate the Pan-Africanist
project.
We call upon Colonel Gaddafi to ensure the safety of black
Africans. We believe that just as the Libyan government and the opposition are
agreed upon their rejection of US offers of “No Fly Zone”, we call upon both
sides of the warring parties to reject the maltreatment of foreign migrants who
have been living peacefully and working to help improve the Libyan economy and
to improve their own lives. We don't see this as a crime. The are your brothers
and sisters. They need help. Please help them!
Forward Ever! Backwards
Never!!!
Cheers!
–
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro
Member,
International Solidarity Committee
of the Pan-Africanist
InternationalRead Stories:http://rosebellkagumire.com/2011/03/03/a-mercenary-and-an-immigrant-a-story-of-africans-and-libya/A
mercenary and an immigrant; a story of black Africans and Libya MARCH 3,
2011A mercenary and an
immigrant; a story of black Africans and Libyaby Rosebell
How
do you prove that you are just an immigrant not a mercenary? It's a question I
have been pondering on the week and it's a situation that thousands of Africans
stuck in the Libya uprising have to deal with, that is if they are given
chance.
Sub Saharan Africans had not surfaced much in the story of the
protests and revolutions that have swept across North Africa until Libyans
decided to take on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, their leader for the last four
decades.
Protests first broke out in Libya on 15 February 2011 and a few
days after that the international media got its juicy story of foreign fighters
working for Gaddafi. It wasn't long the term 'African mercenaries' came into
full use.
To me it was like I was aback to one of my secondary school
history classes about events in the 19th or 20th century and stories of African
men taken to the fight in “world wars” where they had no idea.
Before the
African mercenaries term was coined, there had been the African the migrant. The
'possible mass migration' of Africans to Europe was one of the very first
stories about Africans and the Libya protests to hit the international scene. It
was about the fear European countries had that Libya, one of the main routes
forAfrican immigrants, could pose them a problem if it plunged in state of
lawlessness.
Gaddafi who had been helpful in significantly reducing the
numbers of African immigrants crossing to Europe through pacts with EU members,
then rushed to use this as a bargaining chip as the protests spread. And the
African the migrant at this point became both a weapon and a threat. Actually
the BBC reporter based in Nairobi said “The fear with Libya is that sub-Saharan
Africans will try to leave and there are more of them.”
Out of a
population of about seven million people in Libya, about one million are
believed to be from sub-Saharan African countries. There are no concrete
figures. Reports claimed that about three quarters of these Africans are sort of
on a waiting list to try by any means to cross to Europe.
After the story
of the African -the immigrant, came the African -the mercenary as Gaddafi became
increasingly violent and killing hundreds of Libyans. Social networks and
twitter were abuzz with words African mercenaries, some with outright racial
undertones. Some tweets suggested Gaddafi had “brought Africans to break into
their homes and rape their women.”
I thought ok, recent African civil wars which have been characterised by
rape used as weapon of war have not helped perceptions about the continent that
often people want to project! This rape aspect has been repeated in many tweets
although we are yet to see reports on actual cases of rape in the international
media.
Today I watched Al Jazeera showing a tweet from Redafayr linking
mercenaries to 20 African countries where Tamoil, a Libyan petroleum company
operates. Today Reuters reported that the rebel National Libyan Council in
Benghazi, the insurgent capital said it believed Niger, Mali and Kenya were
sending troops to support Gaddafi, who is now directing his forces from
Tripoli.
These kinds of statements can only further fuel anger among
those opposed to Gaddafi and puts more lives of immigrants held up in houses and
other hiding places in Libya at great danger. We have seen reports that indicate
dozens of immigrants have so far been killed. These are not deaths inflicted on
the 'Gaddafi's African mercenaries' but on African immigrants that have nothing
to do with the parties in the conflict.
We have seen slow reaction and
attention on international scene and on the part of the African Union and
African countries on the mercenary issue. We have not seen bold statements
against these xenophobic attacks.
In Uganda we have instead seen a
national broadcaster sack two journalists over broadcasting of events in Libya
and we don't expect much from government to try and tell the nation that there
is no Ugandan Libya as a mercenary. In Zimbabwe, Bob is busy charging anyone who
mentions anything close to Libya with treason. It's important that these
countries come out and tell the world what is happening.
Kenya has done a
lot to evacuate its citizens and others from the East African region. I know
that an MP last week called on the country to investigate if young Kenyans who
had gone to Islamic schools in Libya might be among the said mercenaries but yet
to hear progress. Nigeria is continuing to evacuate its citizens from Libya but
many other immigrants from other African countries are still stuck and
governments are simply not doing much. I was shocked to see a Ugandan embassy
employee saying if it hadn't been for Kenya she would have died in
Libya.
U.N. officials have warned that the latest charges from the
council in Benghazi could escalate attacks on African migrants in rebel-held
areas. We are yet to see the full coverage of the story of the African 'the
mercenary' in Libya. We have seen a few pictures that came from protesters but
the story is one of the hard ones to get and it will probably take as long as
the uprising itself to know the entire story.
While there have been
reports of many kind Libyans volunteering to watch over those immigrants that
made it to camps, generally many on the continent fear that the impact of racial
discrimination not only against immigrants but also black Libyans will continue
to be manifested alongside the story of the African mercenary.
We will
take long to see a positive story for instance on what African immigrants have
contributed to the Libyan economy and how their absence could be felt in either
post Gaddafi or post protests Libya. Ultimately the absence of a sub Saharan
media will continue to put the African story to hands of foreign media whose
plates are often to full too do it justice.
Read more:
http://www.bukisa.com/articles/461773_sub-saharan-africans-in-libya-bearing-the-brunt-of-the-uprising#ixzz1FagIm3kY
'Libya hires African
mercenaries'Libya has hired foreign mercenaries from French speaking
African countries as crackdown on pro-democracy protesters has intensified,
witnesses say.
Three buses full of mercenaries were seen in a small
suburb of the capital city of Tripoli and elsewhere, a witnesses told Press TV
on Tuesday.
People on the ground also said that mobile phones and the
internet are jammed and there are only about 15 Soraya satellite phones among
activists for communication.
This is while army warplanes bombed
protesters in Tripoli early on Tuesday, according to the reports.
An
activist said warplanes and helicopters are “indiscriminately bombing … There
are many, many dead.”
The North African country is in turmoil since last
week after people took to the streets to protest against the rule of Muammar
Gaddafi.
In a short appearance on state-run television on Tuesday,
Gaddafi rejected reports that he was fleeing to Venezuela, saying that he is in
the Libyan capital.
Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi
Pillay called for an international probe into Libya's violent crackdown on the
protesters.
She also called for an immediate end to “unconscionable
violations,” warning the Libyan authorities that the systematic attacks against
civilians could amount to “crimes against humanity.”
UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon also urged Gaddafi to show restraint and stop the violence against
the anti-government demonstrators immediately.
http://www.modernghana.com/newsp/318974/1/pagenum2/black-africans-in-libya-cry-out-for-help.html#continue