Migrants sold into slavery in Libya tell of 'total hell'

Survivors of slave auctions in Libya have described a "total hell" that they wouldn't wish on their "worst enemy" as global outrage grows over footage showing migrants being sold off in the war-torn country.

"We were slaves," said Moussa Sanogo, a migrant who flew back to Ivory Coast from Libya this week after surviving regular beatings and forced labour in the fields.

"For the Arabs (Libyan jailers), black-skinned men are nothing but animals -- animals were treated better," said Sanogo, who spent more than four months in Libya trying to get to Italy by boat.

The North African country has long been a major transit hub for migrants trying to reach Europe.

He was just one of those who returned home with stories similar to those aired last week by US TV network CNN, which showed an apparent slave auction where black men were presented to North African buyers as potential farmhands and sold off for as little as $400 (340 euros).

"It was total hell in Libya," said Maxime Ndong, one of 250 migrants flown back to Cameroon on Tuesday night.

"There is a trade in black people there. People who want slaves... come to buy them," he told AFP.

"If you resist, they shoot at you. There have been deaths," said Ndong, who spent eight months in Libya.

The Cameroonians flew back to Yaounde on Tuesday aboard a plane charted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as part of a project to return and reintegrate some 850 people.

Sanogo, 22, was one of about 600 Ivory Coast migrants that were returning from Libya with IOM's support. Around 150 people landed in the capital Abidjan on Monday with the rest to be brought home during the week.

Sanogo described Libya as an anarchic country preyed on by bandits where the forces of law and order were involved in human trafficking.

"At one point, we were caught by people who said they were police," he said.

"The police then sold me for 500 dinars (310 euros, $365) to a man who made me work in a tomato field for a month. You have to work."

Sanogo fled across the desert to Niger where he was imprisoned again before finally escaping to Tunisia.

Then a people smuggler promising a path to Europe convinced him to return to Libya.

"We were captured and locked in a small room with 60 other people," and were "not able to wash," he said.

"When the Arabs entered they wore masks due to the smell," he said, shaking his head at the memory.

"They are buying you. You're there, you have been arrested, you see they are judging your price like merchandise. They bought you and you're going to work... like a slave," he said.

"They hit you all the time -- especially if you're big like me -- until the blood flows, with sticks, metal, the butt of a gun.

"For food, you are given a piece of bread and a piece of cheese, that's all... I'm happy to be back," he said.

"I would not wish it on my enemy."

Another migrant, Seydou Sanogo from Abidjan, said: "You would have to see what we lived through to believe it".

But not everyone wanted to leave Libya. One woman with an 18-month-old baby said she did not want to return to Ivory Coast.

"We were waiting for the boat. We were almost there," said the woman, who did not give her name.

The slave auction footage has triggered an outcry across Africa, bringing to public consciousness a situation that has previously been condemned by many non-governmental groups and observers.

Music and football stars have expressed their outrage at the revelations, including Ivorian reggae singers Alpha Blondy and Tiken Jah Fakoly, as well as footballer Didier Drogba.

"It is a double indignation, a cry from the heart: I am shocked to see the children of Africa die... trying to find a better tomorrow," said A'Salfo, lead singer of the group Magic System.

"A humiliation for Africa."

The United Nations said the slavery auctions should be investigated as possible crimes against humanity, and the issue will be on agenda at an African Union-EU summit on November 29 to 30 in Abidjan.

AFP

US convicts Nigerian woman of 'modern day slavery'

Bidemi Bello, a 41-year old Nigerian woman was convicted of human trafficking and several other charges after forcing two women to work unpaid for her for years, in what prosecutors called "a case of modern day slavery."

She was convicted by a federal jury on Friday of eight counts: two counts of forced labor, two counts of trafficking for forced labor, one count of document servitude, one count of alien harboring and two counts of making false statements in an application to become a US citizen.

"The defendant both physically abused and psychologically intimidated these women for her own personal gain," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, after a verdict was reached in the week-long trial.

"This was a case of modern day slavery hidden within an expensive home in an upscale neighborhood," said US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Sally Quillian Yates.

"The two women who were abused here thought they were going to be nannies; instead they were treated inhumanely.

"The laws of the United States protect all victims from such abuse, regardless of where they came from or how they came to be in the United States," Yates said.

According to evidence and testimony presented during the trial, the two women were separately recruited in Nigeria by Bello and brought to the United States to work as her nanny.

The Nigerian woman had promised to send the young women to school in the United States, and in the case of one victim, had promised to pay her as well.

But the testimony showed, however, that once in the United States, Bello became verbally and physically abusive to both young women, who were forced to sleep on the floor even though her upscale home had multiple bedrooms and bathrooms. They were given little to eat and forced to work unreasonably long days in harsh conditions.

Officials said sentencing for Bello has been set for August.

UK court awards 5000 pounds to 4 Nigerians

Four Nigerian women who claimed they were treated as slaves won damages in Britain's High Court, where a judge ruled on Friday that the police's failure to investigate the complaints breached human rights law.

The women, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, alleged that they were illegally trafficked from Nigeria to the U.K. when they were between the ages of 11 and 15. Now in their 20s, they claimed they were forced to work 18-hour days for no pay in British

households and were subjected to emotional and physical abuse in the London area between 1997 and 2006.

Justice Wyn Williams ordered the Metropolitan Police to pay each woman 5,000 pounds ($8,100), saying in a written judgment that the police's failure to carry out an effective probe in 2007 breached European human rights law.

At a March court hearing, police denied that any officer had breached the women's human rights by failing to investigate their complaints.

The women were "ready, willing and able to participate in an investigation," Williams said, rejecting claims by police that the victims failed to cooperate.

A spokesman for the women's' lawyers noted Friday that the Metropolitan Police has not apologized for failing to investigate the abuses and argued — unsuccessfully — that it did not have a legal duty to investigate "credible allegations of servitude unless those allegations were reported whilst the servitude was ongoing."

"The (police) commissioner should not require a court judgment to appreciate the importance of investigating child slavery," said Tony Murphy, one of the solicitors. "His decision to fight this case sends a dangerous message to officers that combating human trafficking is not a priority for the Met."

The Metropolitan Police said it will carefully consider the judgment and take any appropriate action.

"It is, of course, a matter of deep regret that the claimants did not receive the levels of service which they expected," the statement said.