Libyan Rebels Wary Of Sub-Saharan Africans, Nigerians Crying For Help

August 30, 2011
Now that Moammar Gadhafi's regime has lost control of the Libyan capital Tripoli, some Africans have been left vulnerable to attack.

Many rebels believe any dark man from sub-Saharan Africa is a Gadhafi mercenary.

The Africans say they are in Libya either as laborers or waiting to get to Italy. The International Organization for Migration says their plight is a significant problem.

DAVID GREENE, host:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

And I'm Steve Inskeep.

Hundreds of thousands of foreigners used to work in Libya. Some came from nearby Egypt and others from as far away as North Korea. A thinly populated oil-rich nation hired many of them for manual labor or menial jobs.

GREENE: Many workers fled during the rebellion of the past six months, but some remain. And humanitarian groups say those from sub-Saharan Africa are especially vulnerable now. Many Libyan rebels accused these dark-skinned Africans as serving as mercenaries for Moammar Gadhafi. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from Tripoli.

JASON BEAUBIEN: A dozen black men are cowering in the back of a guard post on a military base in the south of Tripoli. The base used to be home to Moammar Gadhafi's feared 32 Brigade headed by Gadhafi's son, Hamis, until it was torn apart by NATO bombing and overrun by the rebels.

The rebels say these foreign men are Gadhafi mercenaries. The men claim they're construction workers.

Mr. GODSPOWER WILFRED (Construction Worker): No. No, I'm not fighting for anybody. Please, I'm not fighting here. I'm working in this Libya since two years and five months.

from the audio  that man's accent is totally Igbo!!


BEAUBIEN: Thirty-seven-year-old Godspower Wilfred is from Nigeria. He says he and the others have been hiding during the recent fighting and they just now come out into the streets to look for food. Wilfred says he's terrified the rebels are going to execute him.

Mr. WILFRED: I beg, I'm innocent. I don't know anything. I beg.

(Soundbite of honking)

BEAUBIEN: Rebels in front of the shattered remains of the military base are shooting their guns in the air and honking their horns in celebration. The ground is covered in shattered glass and bullet casings.

(Soundbite of gunfire)

BEAUBIEN: OK. So the rebels have just told these guys that they're free to leave. However, they're still a bit hesitant to go out the door, because they're nervous about what might happen as soon as they get out the gate.

Just as the men start to walk across the road, another rebel, Mohamed Taraf, orders them back into the base.

What's going to happen with these guys?

Mr. MOHAMED TARAF: These people are killer, you know. They will (unintelligible), 

BEAUBIEN: A half hour later they're released again. This time they manage to walk about a mile to where a couple of hundred other foreigners, all from Sub-Saharan Africa, are staying inside a large dusty lot. They say the owner has let them camp here.

There's one group of Somalis who've been traveling across the desert to try to get to Europe. There are numerous Nigerian construction workers and about two dozen women. A 24-year-old Ghanaian in a tattered British soccer jersey says he wants to go back home, but he can't even leave the lot.

Then a rebel soldier with an AK-47 who won't give his name arrives and orders all of the Africans out of the compound.

Unidentified Man: OK. Go, go.

BEAUBIEN: Samsee John, a bricklayer from Nigeria, says they have nowhere else to go and he hopes the United Nations or some international group will come and rescue him.

Mr. SAMSEE JOHN (Bricklayer[b]): They are going to kill us. There is no life here really. We're scared to stay here. Maybe God bless us.[/b] Really, I don't know what's going on.

BEAUBIEN: The black Africans frantically pack clothes and blankets into small backpacks and then file out into the dusty street. The group lingers outside the gate until the rebel waves them away with his rifle.

Unidentified Man: OK. Go. Please. Go, go, go.

BEAUBIEN: But they don't go far. A day later, when Othman Belbeisi from the IOM, the International Organization for Migration, arrives, most of them are back inside the lot.

Mr. OTHMAN BELBEISI (International Organization for Migration): If you are willing to go back home - because we have a boat leaving, so for sure we can help with that.

BEAUBIEN: Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have fled Libya since the uprising against Gadhafi began in February. 24-year-old Dante Lazoba from Nigeria says he'll join them if the IOM can get him safely to the port.

Mr. DANTE LAZOBA: I'll go. I'm going to my country now. I'm tired of - I don't want to die here. I don't want to die here.

(Soundbite of crosstalk)

Mr. BELBEISI: Those who want to leave, back home. Bring their passports and stand in a line.

BEAUBIEN: Belbeisi estimates there are close to 400 migrants just on this plot. Not all of them want to leave. Some say they hope to be able to work here again once things settle down. Belbeisi says tensions remain high in the Libyan capital and he estimates there are probably still thousands of other migrants hiding across the city.

Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Tripoli

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/30/140052803/liyban-rebels-wary-of-sub-saharan-africans

These Libyan Rebels will kill our People finish o

Mr. DANTE LAZOBA: I'll go. I'm going to my country now. I'm tired of - I don't want to die here. I don't want to die here.

This s indeed scary.

Mr. WILFRED: I beg, I'm innocent. I don't know anything. I beg.

eyah

I thought we evacuated Nigerians from Libya. dem nor get family?

These Libyans will kill those people finish and hide their bodies if we don't help them soon. They've killed plenty already

Where is the minister for foreign affairs?

But of course you wouldn't hear of these atrocities against black Africans being reported in the western media. After all it's blacks being massacred, and besides it not being newsworthy, its also acceptable collateral damage for their governments to get their bloodstained hands on Libyan resources the way they've gotten Iraqs'.

Watch how nothing will come of all this, as mass graves will be dug to hide the evidence or blame it on Ghadafi and his sons.

Part of me is angry with any black that went to or remained in that rascist Godforsaken country when the (INDUCED/TELEGUIDED) uprising started earlier this year. But then, i can't really blame them as i don't know the kind of desperation that drove them to go to such a hostile country in the first place. A place that treats blacks as slaves and worse than animals.

These rascist Libyans would be thanking whatever devil they worship for the opportunity this uprising has presented them to horn their shooting skills on any black Africans they can find. Evil people to the core.

It's our leaders i blame: if not for the way our countries economies have been ran aground, with desperation and hopelessness being the lot of majority of black Africans, we wouldn't have found ourselves in this situation to begin with.

May God help us!!!

It's stuff like this that makes most Black Americans not want to be associated with Africa. I mean this poo is embarrassing, how in the hell is a big Bottom galoot nation like Nigeria going to allow a bunch of camel jockey rag heads in Puny Libya get away with treating their people like dog shiit, while when these Libyan turds are in Nigeria they get their Bottom kissed. That's bullshit!! You'all are a bunch of puzzies .

PROUD-IGBO:

But of course you wouldn't hear of these atrocities against black Africans being reported in the western media. After all it's blacks being massacred, and besides it not being newsworthy, its also acceptable collateral damage for their governments to get their bloodstained hands on Libyan resources the way they've gotten Iraqs'.

Watch how nothing will come of all this, as mass graves will be dug to hide the evidence or blame it on Ghadafi and his sons.

Part of me is angry with any black that went to or remained in that rascist Godforsaken country when the (INDUCED/TELEGUIDED) uprising started earlier this year. But then, i can't really blame them as i don't know the kind of desperation that drove them to go to such a hostile country in the first place. A place that treats blacks as slaves and worse than animals.

These rascist Libyans would be thanking whatever devil they worship for the opportunity this uprising has presented them to horn their shooting skills on any black Africans they can find. Evil people to the core.

It's our leaders i blame: if not for the way our countries economies have been ran aground, with desperation and hopelessness being the lot of majority of black Africans, we wouldn't have found ourselves in this situation to begin with.

May God help us!!!

So how come I watched an expose on the killing of blacks in Libya on CNN? Ain't they Western?
We need to kill this weak cries against the West, it is immoral and gets quite annoying after some time.

It aint Nigerians being booted around and humiliated it is people from [size=15pt]Ghana and Niger[/size]. Nevertheless it is a travesty what is reported to be happening to these black people and all most hope that something is done to save lives.

^Anywhere you see ghana and niger, you'll see nigeria also.

So Niger is becoming a big power in Africa?

Nigerian and Nigerien is confusing. "I'm a Nigerian" "A Nigerien?" "No, Naija" "Niger? "

When countries where evacuating their citizens, Nigeria also evacuated those willing to leave, others chose to stay probably because they felt things where going to get better and they can head on to Europe or find work in Libya. This is a civil war, the regime in control has been toppled, I don;t see how Nigeria as a country or the embassy can be of help at this time, when no one is really in charge of Tripoli, heck even the ambassador is probably not safe if he steps out of his home. The rebels are just running around paranoid targeting any black they see.

I hope when things settle down, the African Union will call for an enquiry into the inhumane treatment of black Africans in Libya. As much as possible, the number of Africans/foreigners killed, tortured and missing should be ascertained, and rebel commanders responsible for any atrocities committed should be held accountable for their actions. THIS MUST BE DONE!!!

We shouldn't only talk about war crimes committed against Libyans by Ghaddafi and his mercenaries, and then treat the ones committed against black Africans with levity.

If the new Libyan Government wants to be part of the AU, and have diplomatic/economic relations with the rest of sub-saharan Africa, then they MUST look into the treatment of blacks by the rebels during the conflict.

I agree that some Blacks may have been used as mercenaries by the Gaddafi regime. And when such people were caught, the proper procedure for handling prisoners of war (as per the Geneva conventions) should be have been engaged. NATO that was providing logistics and other support to the rebels should have pointed out this fact (that's if it mattered to them at all ).

Respect for the human rights of black Africans should be DEMANDED from these people. But we also need to look inwards as Africans and do a bit of soul searching: nobody can look down on you and treat you as sub-human unless you give them the opportunity.

There might be reprisal attacks against Arabs in black Africa if this issue is not properly handled.A lot of Lebanese,Israelites and other Arab looking people own a lot investments in West Africa.

Beaf:

So how come I watched an expose on the killing of blacks in Libya on CNN? Ain't they Western?
We need to kill this weak cries against the West, it is immoral and gets quite annoying after some time.

I remember this thing crying against the west during the ND militants' days. What a hypocrite!

I thought someone said the Ghanian economy is doing well, how come all these kofis are all desperate to leave their country. 

Abagworo:

There might be reprisal attacks against Arabs in black Africa if this issue is not properly handled.A lot of Lebanese,Israelites and other Arab looking people own a lot investments in West Africa.

that would accomplish nothing.

they're not libyan.

Litmus:

It aint Nigerians being booted around and humiliated it is people from [size=15pt]Ghana and Niger[/size]. Nevertheless it is a travesty what is reported to be happening to these black people and all most hope that something is done to save lives.

Dude read the report again and play the audio.

Where is GodsPower Wilfred from? Click the link and listen to his emotional cries in Conc. Igbo-Nigerian accent

"Mr. WILFRED: I beg, I'm innocent. I don't know anything. I beg." - Wilfred Godspower

There are plenty more online, I can post links and videos of our brothers and sisters suffering humiliation in Libya, if you want.

Like Beaf said, they've been showing the brutalization of Nigerians and other Dark Skinned Africans by Libyans on CNN BBC NPR and co since the war started. The silence from the Nigerian Government and the AU on this issue is very deafening and embarrassing.

AU is the most useless organisation I have ever seen.

Arosa:

AU is the most useless organisation I have ever seen.

^^^ Exactly!!! ECOWAS is more relevant and proactive than that useless AU.

Where were they when free airline was sent to take them back to nigeria.

Pephaps to steal some properties. Nigerians disgrace

I hope nigeria govt will do something about it but i doubt it becos GEJ is now kissing the arsss of the NTC.

And just last night there was this educated ape , actually they were 2 on another thread disputing the credibility of stories / articles about the reckless killings of Sub- Saharan Africans in Libya.

These are the people that Goodluck Jonathan quickly recognized and supported opposed to the AU. Smh. Slave mentality.

amazing what we all run after when we go out there! cant we stay and renegotiate nigeria, chase out and punish the bad leaders so we can also enjoy?

Chyz*:

These are the people that Goodluck Jonathan quickly recognized and supported opposed to the AU. Smh. Slave mentality.

Nna ehn the thing tire me, big time! He should have waited like every other president in Sub Saharan Africa did.

odeotito:

amazing what we all run after when we go out there! cant we stay and renegotiate nigeria, chase out and punish the bad leaders so we can also enjoy?

Absolutely of no relevance to the issue being discussed whatsoever! Please stop trolling unintentionally.

[size=18pt]AND THE BASTARD JONATHAN SAID HE SUPPORTS THE REBEL LED GOVERNMENT IN LIBYA.FOOLOSH PRESIDENT [/size]

Igbo people no go sidon for one place,

NatGas:

Igbo people no go sidon for one place,

You moronic dimwit. I have been researching by reading articles and watching videos regarding this issue unlike your unintelligent self who speak and make claims based on assumptions. Most of the Nigerians trapped there at the moment are from Edo state, I might be wrong, but I will go with that based on their accent and tribal scars, that is not to say there aren't Igbos stranded there too. The way I see it there might be individuals from every geographical region in Nigeria there as we speak.

This mission has Nigerian special forces written all over it.

NatGas:

Igbo people no go sidon for one place,

That is not the issue and it's absolutely unnecessary for you to say that.

A lot of the voices I've heard from various reports sounded Northern. It's not just Igbo, Yoruba or Edo. All dark skinned People are being discriminated against by those wicked People.

You cannot become a Great country if your citizens can't do business or export their services abroad. A lot of Arabs and Middle easterners own thriving businesses in Nigeria, despite their historical disdain for dark skinned people we still welcome them and patronize them.

Mega plaza is owned by an Israeli.

Setraco, one of the more successful Construction companies in Nigeria is owned by a Lebanese, he too started small in Nigeria.


Many of these Nigerian construction workers are in Libya to work and help their families too. Why discriminate against them?

Chagouris are billionaires here in Nigeria, we are not killing them. Many Arabs own restaurants all over VI and Apapa, we are not burning their shops, why discriminate against our people In their region?

Our government needs to protect us, Especially when they seem to have allied themselves with these Rebels. They must get something in return - Respect and favor for Nigerian workers and businesses is one.

You have to Wonder what we are getting for supporting them if they cannot give our people protection and respect in their country. What kind of silly foreign policy is that when it does not benefit your own people.

oh but isn't "Tripoli more livable than Lagos". . . ehen so who no know go know.