Libya evacuations: Africans ‘left out’
Dario Malewa | 03.03.2011 12:28 | Anti-racism | Globalisation | Repression | Cambridge
Africans ‘left out’ in Libya evacuations ....... In the rush to rescue foreigners from Libya, thousands of migrant Africans are being left behind, holed up at home terrified as insurgents mistake them for mercenaries fighting for Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. Rumours that Gaddafi has hired fighters from south of the Sahara to quash a popular revolt against him have made hordes of Africans targets of popular anger, many from poor countries unable to organise their evacuation.
Refugees flee Libya
Dakar - Abdulai Sisay, a student at a college of Islam in Benghazi, is one of up to 4 000 Sierra Leoneans in Libya, and his mother Aminata, 60, in Freetown says she is in constant touch with him.
"He is very much afraid as he is barricaded in his rented house and refuses to open his doors when there is a knock," she told AFP on Wednesday.
"He says some of his friends have been attacked by unknown armed people because he is black. When he peeps through the window, he constantly hears shouts of 'kill the black mercenaries financed by Gaddafi.'"
It is not known how many Africans make up the considerable foreign labour force lured to the oil-rich nation, and countries have reported anything from several thousand to 300 000 from neighbouring Chad and 50 000 from Nigeria. .....
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Africans-left-out-in-Libya-evacuations-20110303 ......... Also from Niger, Boubacar Gouzaye told a radio station in his country that Africans remained cloistered in their rooms with nothing to eat.
A massive movement: "There is a severe shortage of vegetables, food, people are eating only boiled white rice," he said.
Several governments have denied their nationals are working as mercenaries in Libya; however north Malian officials say hundreds of young Tuaregs from Mali and Niger, including ex-rebels, had been recruited.
Embattled leader Gaddafi, who has lost control of the majority of his country, has used his 41-year reign to establish himself as a true pan-Africanist and self-proclaimed "King of Kings of Africa".
He has financed and trained rebels in many of the continent's major conflicts, poured petro-dollars into struggling countries as well as the African Union and backed up political movements while pushing his dream for a United States of Africa.
However Gaddafi has come under fire for racism against black Africans, who he referred to as "starving and ignorant barbarians" in Italy last year.
The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) has raised fears of "a massive movement" of people towards Niger as a result of the threat they are facing in Libya, suspecting as many as 100 000 may flee to the neighbouring country within a month. http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Africans-left-out-in-Libya-evacuations-20110303
Videos > Africa > Refugees flee Libya .......... Thousands of Bangladeshis suffering days of delays at the Tunisian border say they have received no help from their government or aid agencies. ......... http://www.news24.com/Galleries/Video/Videos/Africa/Refugees%20flee%20Libya/566b3d36da9a4822a0e32811b514dd15/Refugees-flee-Libya
"He is very much afraid as he is barricaded in his rented house and refuses to open his doors when there is a knock," she told AFP on Wednesday.
"He says some of his friends have been attacked by unknown armed people because he is black. When he peeps through the window, he constantly hears shouts of 'kill the black mercenaries financed by Gaddafi.'"
It is not known how many Africans make up the considerable foreign labour force lured to the oil-rich nation, and countries have reported anything from several thousand to 300 000 from neighbouring Chad and 50 000 from Nigeria. .....
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Africans-left-out-in-Libya-evacuations-20110303 ......... Also from Niger, Boubacar Gouzaye told a radio station in his country that Africans remained cloistered in their rooms with nothing to eat. A massive movement: "There is a severe shortage of vegetables, food, people are eating only boiled white rice," he said.
Several governments have denied their nationals are working as mercenaries in Libya; however north Malian officials say hundreds of young Tuaregs from Mali and Niger, including ex-rebels, had been recruited.
Embattled leader Gaddafi, who has lost control of the majority of his country, has used his 41-year reign to establish himself as a true pan-Africanist and self-proclaimed "King of Kings of Africa".
He has financed and trained rebels in many of the continent's major conflicts, poured petro-dollars into struggling countries as well as the African Union and backed up political movements while pushing his dream for a United States of Africa.
However Gaddafi has come under fire for racism against black Africans, who he referred to as "starving and ignorant barbarians" in Italy last year.
The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) has raised fears of "a massive movement" of people towards Niger as a result of the threat they are facing in Libya, suspecting as many as 100 000 may flee to the neighbouring country within a month.
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Africans-left-out-in-Libya-evacuations-20110303 Videos > Africa > Refugees flee Libya .......... Thousands of Bangladeshis suffering days of delays at the Tunisian border say they have received no help from their government or aid agencies. .........
http://www.news24.com/Galleries/Video/Videos/Africa/Refugees%20flee%20Libya/566b3d36da9a4822a0e32811b514dd15/Refugees-flee-Libya
Dario Malewa
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