Is Gaddafi forcing African Migrant workers to fight for him?

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

http://www.mideastnewswire.com/black-african-migrant-workers-forced-fight-for-gaddafi


Black African Migrant Workers Forced to Fight for Gaddafi

Written on March 8, 2011 by Ayah Is'mail (http://www.mideastnewswire.com/author/ayah) in Libya (http://www.mideastnewswire.com/topics/region/libya)

http://www.mideastnewswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/refugees-mercenaries-300x202.jpg (http://www.mideastnewswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/refugees-mercenaries.jpg)It is now being reported that troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi (http://www.mideastnewswire.com/gaddafi%E2%80%99s-hidden-arms-now-in-hands-of-rebels) are grabbing black African migrant workers in Libya and forcing them to fight against the anti-Gaddafi rebels. This latest information is being reported to the Reuters (http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE7261F320110307?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0) news-wire from a refugee camp in Tunisia where many of these young African men who have managed to escape and flee from war-torn Libya.
Beaten Then Recruited

The men described being raided while in their homes by Libyan soldiers, beaten and then relieved of their savings, identity papers and other possessions. They were then held in custody and offered payment to fight on behalf of Libya and Colonel Gaddafi. Refusal to agree was met with threats that they would never be allowed to leave.
Gaddafi’s government denies such tactics, and has explained the sudden presence of dark-skinned soldiers in the army as neither African mercenaries nor detained migrant workers, but as “dark-skinned” Libyan nationals.
Black Workers Forced Into Service

Rebels began spreading the rumor that Gaddafi had brought in African mercenaries from places such as Chad and Zimbabwe when the fighting began three weeks ago, but these rumors have never been proven. Now it seems clear that the best explanation for the appearance of the ‘dark-skinned’ soldiers is the joining of the African migrants in the fight on the side of Gaddafi.
Over the past 10 days more than 105,000 migrant workers have escaped from Libya to Tunisia, a majority of who are Egyptians, but also about 20,000 workers from Bangladesh. The Egyptians have been repatriated, but the Bangladeshis as well as thousands of west Africans are populating the UN transit camp that has been established for them in Ras Jdir, Tunisia.
Tales of Escape to Tunisia

Twenty-three year old Fergo Fevomoye was able to cross the border into Tunisia on Sunday:
“They will give you a gun and train you like a soldier. Then you fight the war of Libya. As I am talking to you now there is many blacks in training who say they are going to fight this war. They have prized (paid) them with lots of money. They said I should take money and fight. They would give me 250 dinars. I said no. When I told them No they told me I would not go anywhere.”
Another refugee, Obinna Obielu was an electrician in Libya for 12 years. During that time he managed to save 10,000 dollars. He managed to escape with two friends, their two wives and two babies in an old Land Cruiser. Because the main road was too dangerous he drove through the bush adjacent to the frontier.
“I go off, because it is not a good road. Because they are attacking people and sending them back to go and fight in the war,” he said. “The car is left back there.”
Two other refugees, Daniel Chibuzor and Tijanx Sadiki told how Libyan troops stormed their home, robbed them and left them with no money or identity papers. They described being terrified of appearing in the streets until they finally decided their best option was to head west to Tunisia. One of the two babies that travelled with them out of Libya was treated for tear-gas inhalation.
Ike Emanuel from Nigeria described how he buried his six month old baby in the desert as he was fleeing Libya. He said that he has spoken to many refugees in the week since he arrived at the camp and has discovered the recurring story of African workers being trapped and having to choose between fighting or fleeing.




This puts the mercenary stories in a different light it would seem.

[Nolan]

It would seem there was something to the merc story. Some people are gonna be embarrassed.

[Threetune]

“An army cannot be built without reprisals. Masses of men cannot be led to death unless the army command has the death-penalty in its arsenal. So long as those malicious tailless apes that are so proud of their technical achievements—the animals that we call men—will build armies and wage wars, the command will always be obliged to place the soldiers between the possible death in the front and the inevitable one in the rear. "Leon Trotsky

It's a civil war, and ‘Ali didn’t get his rations yesterday and was denied leave to see his sick child etc etc. And the sick and injored troops are being compelled to fight. And some one got raped and someone got robed. It’s called civil war. And Imperialism is responsible for all of it. Grow up.

[timofey]

Reads like propaganda to me.

[Princess Luna]

Reads like propaganda to me.
Ofcourse because it doesn't say what you want it to say :rolleyes:

[RevolutionaryTerror]

It's civil war and let's not forget that Qaddafi drastically liberalised the conomy in the past few years (thus allying himself with Italian and EuropeN capital, and indirectly with American capital. Qaddafi is a fraud and he brought the imperialists by selling out his country in the first place.

The rebel movement (and I truly believe there was a genuine one, for the reasons stated above) has either been wiped out or co-opted by Libyan bureaucrats/mid-level officers. The real rebellion should have retreated to the hills, if they haven't, then they probably have been wiped out.

As for migrant workers being pressed into service, it certainly seems in keeping with Qaddafi's well-known policies towards African migrants. Despite his rhetoric for an all-Africa alliance, he has been importing these workers for years into the country and subsequently mistreating them in their workplace. He also works hand in hand with Berlusconi, as Italians kicking out African immigrants ship them across the Mediterranean where Qaddafi houses them in warehouses.

I believe in the dictatorship of the proletariat, but Qaddafi isn't for the proletariat, he's only out for himself. The western powers are only out for themselves. I had hoped the the people of Libya could have received outside support, but anything like the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War would be decried as "terrorist".

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

Reads like propaganda to me.

So convenient when you can just dismiss anything you want to as "bourgeois propaganda".

Why do I bother having this debate? You don't trust al Jazeera, you don't trust Reuters ... let me guess, can I only provide information that was reported in Granma, Telesur and CCTV?

[Luís Henrique]

It's a civil war, and ‘Ali didn’t get his rations yesterday and was denied leave to see his sick child etc etc. And the sick and injored troops are being compelled to fight. And some one got raped and someone got robed. It’s called civil war. And Imperialism is responsible for all of it. Grow up.

Ah, when it is Gaddafy who is in the wrong, it is war, and in war all is allowed.

Funny when the rebels lynch someone it is an atrocity, not war...

Luís Henrique

[chegitz guevara]

It's my experience in that part of the world that many people are easily given to making the most hysterical claims.

[crazyirish93]

It would seem there was something to the merc story. Some people are gonna be embarrassed.

Sounds more like conscription to me. ohh and its good to see your trying to justify the racist lynchings.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/04/20114818291705627.html


Migrants forced to fight for Gaddafi
'They said we must stay to fight when the Americans come,' a Ghanaian worker tells Al Jazeera from a refugee camp.




http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2011/4/9/20114913304542112_20.jpg Many migrants from sub-Saharan Africa fled Libya when fighting began. Some say they were kidnapped and forced to fight alongside Muammar Gaddafi's forces [Anna Branthwaite/Al Jazeera] Among the reports of atrocities occurring in Libya are claims from African migrants that they were abducted and forced to fight with Gaddafi's forces.
Nearly all migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, who arrive at the desert refugee camp in Tunisia, have fled in fear of violent reprisals by Libyans who accuse them of being mercenaries. The extent to which Gaddafi's military has used foreign mercenaries, or press-ganged migrants into fighting, remains unclear.
A former Nigerian police officer, who had worked in Libya for eight years as a technician, alleges he was abducted in mid-March at a military checkpoint in Tripoli, along with other men from Ghana, Mali and Niger, before being taken to a military centre.
"There was up to 100 people in the courtyard and military trucks were arriving and leaving with more people. They started beating people, I saw them shoot one Ghanaian in front of me. The atmosphere was very intimidating," he explained. "They put us into a vehicle and we were driven into the desert. I saw an oil refinery, there was evidence of bomb strikes, burnt out vehicles and a strong smell. I think it was Ras Lanouf."
A Ghanaian worker claimed to have been abducted by Libyan military when they stormed his house in Sirte.
"They asked us why we were trying to leave the country and that we must stay to fight for when the Americans come," he explained. "We were taken to a police station and then to an underground hospital which they ordered us to clean."
Importing mercenaries
Reports of foreign mercenaries being shipped into Libya and shooting protesters emerged within the first weeks of the uprising.
"There's certainly evidence that Algeria sent pilots in before the no-fly zone and provided military transporters to move people, possibly mercenaries, maybe even equipment… but it is difficult to get them into the country," explains Jeremy Keenan, a professor specialising in the Maghreb who suggests that between 5,000 and 10,000 mercenaries may have entered Libya during this uprising, but that there is no concrete evidence.
"If you've got a million migrants milling around in Libya, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, all paperless with no ID, I suspect he's using them, not Libyans, as human shields… the key thing is he (Gaddafi) has got them over a barrel, they can't leave," said Keenan. "I think the opposition people, when they bump into anyone fighting against them who is speaking another language and looks black, irrespective of how they got into Gaddafi's hands, they are using the word mercenary. There is a lot of confusion there."
Gaddafi has supported past Tuareg rebellions and allegedly backed candidates in recent elections in Niger, who may be beholden to support him.
Local African media have recently reported the recruitment and movement of young men into Libya, but others indicate that Tuaregs were recruited by the Libyan military several years beforehand. What is certain in recent weeks is that more people are leaving Libya than entering.
"Certainly Gaddafi uses mercenaries from abroad and from the foreign community in Libya. In Misurata, there are reports that the Africans are on the frontline, but the snipers are foreigners, mostly from Belarus, Eastern Europe," says Sliman Bouchuiguir, secretary-general of the Libyan League of Human Rights. "He has already used poor Africans as a political weapon against Europe saying he will let this African population go to Italy and Europe."
http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2011/4/9/201149132936900876_20.jpg Gaddafi has used the specture of refugess flooding out of Libya into Europe as a reason why the West should allow him to remain in power [Anna Branthwaite/Al Jazeera] In an interview with French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, in February Gaddafi warned, "You will have the immigration of thousands of people who will invade Europe from Libya, and there will be nobody to stop them."
One million sub Saharan migrants, among them political refugees, are estimated to live in Libya, but there is virtually no documentation of the population. Many make the treacherous journey through the desert into Libya, either en route to Europe or to settle in oil rich Libya.
On entering Libya, thousands of migrants have been arrested and held in detention centres. Many of them are now escaping Libya and can speak openly about the appalling living conditions in the centres, torture resulting in scores of deaths, corruption, lack of legal and medical aid, all of which corroborates with earlier reports made by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Global Detention Project.
Libya has never signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, and after allowing the UNHCR to provisionally re-open its office in Tripoli last year, the UNHCR has only ever been allowed to visit a few centres.
"There are 27 centres known to us. We can't even find out where the detention centres are, there is so little information. I would have little confidence that the treatment of detainees would be to EU standards," explains Michael Flynn, a researcher at the Global Detention Project based in Geneva.
Italy and other EU countries have made it policy to manage immigration from the source of its origins, and in recent years have collaborated with Gaddafi in stemming the flow of African migration – following the 2008 Friendship Pact, Italy has provided Libya with funding to build detention centres and surveillance equipment; the European Commission offered Libya up to 50 million Euros in aid last year to stop the flow of immigration.
"I don't know to what extent there were benchmarks built into these agreements between EU countries and Gaddafi, many of these were verbal agreements," explains Flynn. "There may have been some sort of reporting requirements on conditions, but I would have very little confidence that these requirements would have been met in Libya."
'I need to start again'
With the violence continuing in Libya, journalists and independent observers unable to access many parts of the country, the blight of Libyan and non-Libyans civilians remains largely unknown, but events inside Libya will have far reaching consequences beyond its borders.
As thousands of migrant workers return to their respective countries, Mediterranean and Western countries wrangle over their obligations to the displaced and refugees, neighbouring African states may face the migration of armed mercenaries crossing their desert borders, if, or when, they are no longer required in Libya.
Back in the desert camp in Tunisia, over 60,000 people have been evacuated by the UNHCR and the IOM to their respective countries, with on average of 2,000 flown out each day.
Others nationalities - Somalians, Eritreans, Sudanese, Iraqis and now Ivorians - with no safe country to be returned to, know they will be here for weeks if not months and attempt to make their desert camp as bearable as possible whilst awaiting to told where they will be resettled. Nearly all the families with young children belong to this group.
Waiting his turn to be told when he will be allocated a seat on a flight to Nigeria, the former police officer speaks of his future: "I left everything behind in Libya, all my clothes, savings, property and now I don’t even have one dinar with me. I need to start again. If I can go home I will start to look for a job."
He currently shares a tent with five other men, all facing the same predicaments. "But even though I should be relieved to be going home, I’m still very worried about the people who are trapped inside Libya, the ones who can't get out and have been left behind. I have a bad feeling about what will happen to them."
Anna Branthwaite worked at the Choucha transit camp in Tunisia, taking photographs and interviewing case studies as a freelancer for the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees UNHCR.

Sounds more like conscription to me. ohh and its good to see your trying to justify the racist lynchings.

Forcing migrant workers to fight at gunpoint, especially when foreign migrants are already facing a backlash, not only endangers the lives of all the African migrants but is an abuse against basic human rights. If he were levying local Libyans into his army, that would be one thing, but the Libyan army is forcing black migrants to fill the ranks it cannot fill with its own people. Why is he forcing them to fight? They have no real legal rights, they have no real legal protections, they often don't even know the local language ... levying non-citizens to fight is far removed the kind of conscription you see in modern armies. To equate this with conscription or to try to morally justify it in any way is just as bad as trying to morally justify the lynchings.