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

German police bust Portuguese-Nigerian sham marriage ring

BERLIN A fake marriage ring that paired Portuguese women with Nigerian men who paid thousands of euros for a chance to gain EU residency have been busted by German police on Tuesday.

According to AFP report, police arrested five suspects, including four women, as they carried out raids in more than 40 locations across the German capital, Berlin police and prosecutors said in a statement. Authorities also raided homes in nearby Potsdam, Frankfurt and the eastern city of Goerlitz.

Investigators believe the suspects recruited women in Portugal, while in Nigeria, the gang charged men up to 13,000 euros ($15,000) for the scheme, with part of the money going to the Portuguese "brides".

The ring would then falsify documents such as marriage certificates.

Armed with the fake marriage certificate, the pretend couples would meet briefly in Germany to present themselves to authorities and apply for a legal, EU residency permit for the "husband".

"So far we have established more than 70 cases where marriages were faked to obtain EU residency permits," the police statement said.

Officers seized hard drives, mobile phones and ID documents in the raids, as well as 300,000 euros in cash, according to DPA.

German police said they worked with Europol and their Portuguese counterparts to smash the ring, and that searches also took place in Portugal.

13 million Nigerians wants to move to USA: poll

WASHINGTON More than 100 million people from across the world, including 13 million from Nigeria, would like to move permanently to the United States, which remains the most popular global destination, according to a latest opinion poll. The UK, Canada, and France also rank among the top choices for potential migrants.

  

Potential migrants who would like to move to the US are logically the most likely to come from some of the most populous countries in the world, the Gallup poll said.

The poll said that 19 million Chinese would like to move to the US, followed by 13 million from Nigeria, 10 million from India and six million each from Brazil and Bangladesh.  

However, other populous countries such as Iran and Pakistan do not have large groups of people who say that they would like to move to the US permanently.     

Instead, Pakistanis most desire to relocate to Saudi Arabia and the UK, and Iranians would prefer to move to Jordan or Lebanon. This is not surprising, as Iranians and Pakistanis have some of the lowest US leadership approval ratings in the world.        

Gallup said the percentage of people in each country, who would like to move to the US permanently is perhaps more interesting.       

A staggering 37 per cent of Liberians say that they would like to relocate to the US permanently.  One in four adults or more in Sierra Leone, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti would also like to move to the US permanently.          

Three countries with the highest percentages of people who would like to relocate to the US permanently are in Africa, seven are in Central America and the Caribbean, with the remaining country, Cambodia, in Asia.           

Gallup said about 13 per cent of the world's adults -- or about 630 million people -- say they would like to leave their country and move somewhere else permanently.       

For roughly 138 million people, that somewhere else would be the US -- the number one desired destination for potential migrants, the poll said.   

Nigerian migrants hope Libyan crisis will ease path to Europe

A group of African migrants have put their destinies to fate with the hope to cross to Europe hoping the chaos in Libya will ease their flight to the boats awaiting them on the Mediterranean.
Take the case of this Nigerians who are determined against the odds to make it to Europe in the face of torture and execution of blacks on suspicion of fighting as mercenaries alongside Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

But for them, the risks from gunmen are an acceptable alternative to being turned back by a border patrol.
"They say blacks are being killed as suspected Gaddafi fighters, but I say we all have a destiny," said Sule, a 25-year-old Nigerian migrant who did not want to give his last name.
"I see this war as an opportunity that I cannot let pass if I want to make it to Europe."
Lured by the seductive mirage of a better life in the West, tens of thousands of Africans trek every year across deserts or risk perilous sea crossings in try to slip illegally into Europe via Spain or Italy.
But for Sule and his companions -- and the dozens of others arriving in northern Niger each day -- that gamble means passing through what may be the most dangerous place in the world right now for an African.
Refugee camps within Libya and sprouting along its land borders contain thousands of fleeing Africans telling tales of horror at the hands of rebel fighters suspicious they are pro-Gaddafi mercenaries. Identity cards of nationals from Chad, Niger, Mali, Sudan and other African states have been found on the bodies of gunmen who anti-Gaddafi fighters say were paid to confront them. "We are risking our lives but we have been assured by our guide that we'll be alright between here and the Libyan border.
The rest is our affair," Sule said.
"If things become dangerous, we can always head to a refugee camp," said Obasi, one of Sule's companions.
Sule's group travelled 700 km from their homes in Kano, to Agadez, a city in Niger's northern desert just below the Air mountain range.
In this bustling town, once a popular destination for European tourists seeking a taste of the Sahara before a Tuareg uprising in 2007 and a string of Al Qaeda-linked kidnappings made it a no-go zone,
Sule's group waits for the signal to complete the 3,000 km journey north. "The smuggler said he'll bring us to Libya via the mountain trails through Agadez. There are others coming and even if we become impatient, the timing is his responsibility. There are preparations to complete and it is important that we have enough water," said Serin, one of Sule's companions.
Sule's group paid 300,000 CFA francs ($625) each to be smuggled to the Libyan border, about double what they would have paid before the war, they said.
They said they had been encouraged to try the route when Gaddafi threatened Europe with a deluge of illegal immigration early on in the uprising against him.
Italy's government said last month it has proof Gaddafi planned to turn its tiny island of Lampedusa, off the southern coast of Siciliy, into an "inferno" by sending thousands of desperate African migrants there. A deal between Gaddafi and Italy to send migrants back before they entered Italian waters had curbed the flow of migrants until the Libyan uprising brought strict border controls.
Abdul Rachid is a driver in Agadez, paid to run the smuggling routes to Libya's border with a cargo of humans.
He said migrants were given choices between riding in the back of a powerful 4X4 pickup truck -- the "fast and comfortable option" but more expensive -- or being packed into a larger, slower truck.
"If you take a truck you will be 50 people or 60 people, packed in like sardines. It takes at least 10 days if all goes well," he said.