A burned corpse hanging upside down. Three men standing side by side with scars covering the wounds from their stolen internal organs. Human beings for sale.
These are the searing images of modern day slavery taking place across Libya, posted by a former Nigerian minister after a CNN investigation revealed that Nigerian migrants are being sold into slavery by smugglers for $200.
“Roasted alive,” tweeted former Nigerian Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode. “This is what Libyans do to sub-Saharan Africans who are looking for a transit point to Europe. They sell them into slavery and either murder, mutilate, torture or work them to death.”
Fani-Kayode quoted a report claiming that 75 percent of those sold into the Libyan slave trade are southern Nigerians who have their organs harvested and their bodies burned or mutilated. Earlier in the week, Fani-Kayode had called out Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari for remaining silent on the trade of his people, but Buhari now says he is working to bring back stranded Nigerians in Libya and to discourage more Nigerians from fleeing the country.
“We will ensure they all return home safely and are rehabilitated,” he said.
But Fani-Kayode had a more drastic proposition for the country. He tweeted that Nigeria should go to war with Libya.
“If there were ever a reason or cause for us to go to war, the Libyans have provided it by enslaving our people and buying and selling them like Christmas turkeys and sallah goats,” he tweeted. “No human being deserves to be caged like an animal and roasted like suya meat. ”
So far, 242 Nigerians have been returned from Libya. A majority had been living in the detention camps, while others asked to be brought back home, according to CNN.
The United Nations Security Council met in an emergency session this week to consider applying sanctions and the full range of international law against the smugglers involved in the slave trade.
Celebrities are also bringing attention to the cause, including musical artist Pharrell Williams, rapper Common and civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton, who tweeted about the slave trade to their millions of followers.
Source : Newsweek
