Undocumented migrants in Libya pass half-million mark

By Walid Abdullah

TRIPOLI/RABAT

The total number of undocumented migrants in Libya has hit the half-million mark, Fayez al-Sarraj, head of Libya’s UN-backed unity government, has said.

Al-Sarraj made the assertion on Wednesday evening at the fifth African Union-European Union (AU-EU) Summit now underway in the Ivorian city of Abidjan.

The vast majority of undocumented migrants -- some 95 percent -- hail from African countries, he said.

According to al-Sarraj, roughly 20,000 undocumented migrants -- about 4 percent of the total -- were currently residing in government-run shelters that have been set up across the country.

The rest, he said, had been absorbed by the local labor market despite what he described as Libya’s “difficult” economic circumstances.

In recent years, Libya has become a transit hub for undocumented African migrants seeking greener pastures in Europe.

Many of these end up being recruited by armed militias or exploited by local terrorist groups.

Libya has remained dogged by violence and chaos since 2011, when a bloody uprising led to the ouster and death of longtime President Muammar Gaddafi after more than four decades in power.

The ensuing power vacuum led to the emergence of several competing seats of government and a host of heavily-armed militia groups.

Slavery

Earlier this month, U.S. television network CNN reported that many African migrants in Libya had been captured by local criminal gangs and sold into slavery in lawless regions near Tripoli.

On Wednesday, Moroccan King Mohammed VI condemned these practices, which he described as “incompatible with basic human rights and values”.

He made the remarks in a written statement read out at the AU-EU Summit.

"These practices, perpetrated by armed militias outside the control of the Libyan government, are incompatible with basic human rights and the values ​​and traditions of the Libyan people," he asserted.