NewsRescue
In 2011 at the start of the war on Libya when former president Goodluck Jonathan was in power, he ordered the immediate evacuation of Nigerians in the embattled nation.
The then Director General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad Sani-Sidi is quoted in the media to have said, “NEMA, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Office of the National Security Adviser among other stakeholders have been mandated by the President to work out strategies for a successful evacuation of Nigerians to safety in their motherland.”
Since Libya fell, the abuse and trade of Nigerians in the north African nation and traveling through with the hope of migrating to Europe as they flee poverty in Nigeria, has been at extreme levels. Many of us saw the images of Nigerians in zoos when Libya fell. A recent CNN show brought it to greater public view which has finally stimulated reactions by the Nigerian administration.
It is not encouraging that the Nigerian government hesitates so long to take determined and proactive measures to protect the lives and dignity of its citizens at home and abroad. On president Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the UN 72nd session in New York this September, while he raised issues that do not directly affect Nigerians including the issue of the North Korean threat, he was not recorded to have raised the issue of Black African enslavement in Libya. A present and pressing calamity.
With Nigeria’s role in the African Union, there are several actions including military options that the Nigerian government can take towards compelling the government of Libya to respect and protect fundamental human rights of Africans in the country. Nigerian citizens must also be immediately protected and evacuated. This while the government is also obligated to take the welfare and security of citizens at home as priority over a select elite few.
The African People’s Union and ENDS organisation in our efforts to bring action on this stain to humanity have initiated the following petition to demand action from global organisations and responsible governments. We implore you to read and sign.
It is time to stop the abuse and enslavement of Black Africans in Libya.
It is quite painful to write about the fact that this 2017 our Black brothers are being sold as slaves in Libya for a few hundred dollars a piece. Our brothers and sisters are being maltreated, abused, humiliated, raped and killed without recourse.
But the Libyan government knows about it and is part of it. According to a UN report from June this 2017, [http://undocs.org/S/2017/466
the Libyan Coast Guard and the Department to Counter Illegal Migration are directly involved in the enslavement and trade of Black African migrants who they capture. More worrisome is the fact that the foreign governments implicated in deposing Moammar Ghaddafi and consequently destabilizing the entire African continent are again involved in supporting and assisting the Libyan government agencies implicated in the UN report.
Quoting from the Council of the European Union, “EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia is the EU naval operation disrupting the business model of migrant smugglers and human traffickers in the Southern Central Mediterranean. The operation has two supporting tasks: training the Libyan Coastguard and Navy and contributing to the implementation of the UN arms embargo on the high seas off the coast of Libya in accordance with UNSCR 2292 (2016) and 2357 (2017).” [http://www.consilium.europa.
eu/en/press/press-releases/ 2017/07/25/eunavformed-sophia- mandate-extended/ Additionally African governments especially the Nigerian government which was one of a few to vote for the action taken against Libya are today doing next to nothing to address the Libyan abomination.
We hereby petition the United Nations, European Union, African Union, United States Government, and Nigerian Government in particular and other governments to rise up to their proper responsibilities to arrest the situation in Libya immediately and abolish the new dehumanizing slave trade via this axis. The world must not sit idle as fellow human beings are openly abused and traded at this time in our history.
It is time to rise up and #AbolishAfricanEnslavement
Petition created by ENDS.ng and African People’s Union ( http://africanpeoplesunion.
org/ )Contact Dr. Perry Brimah +1-929-427-5305 (Whatsapp)