UN WANTS LIBYA TO SHUT DOWN MIGRANT CAMPS.

African migrants sit in a packed room with their beds and blankets, at the Tariq Al-Matar detention centre on the outskirts of the Libyan capital Tripoli.
Image: AFP/TAWA JAWASHI.

At a Security Council meeting called by France, the head of the International Organization for Migration said he was working with the UN refugee agency on a plan "to try to empty the detention centers."

"We need from the Libyans the agreement that we can empty these centers and I think they will agree to that," said William Lacy Swing by videoconference.

Libya has become an enormous transit hub for sub-Saharan Africans seeking to reach Europe since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

Italy and the European Union have been providing financing, training and other aid to Libya to stop smugglers from taking migrants in flimsy boats across the Mediterranean, keeping them instead in detention centers.

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said that many more migrants are being held by smugglers and traffickers in Libya, under the protection of "well-known militias."

France requested the urgent meeting to push for a tough response by the top UN body after the footage aired by CNN showed migrants sold for as little as $400.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said he will propose names of migrant traffickers to be added to a UN sanctions blacklist that provides for a global travel ban and assets freeze.

- 'Racist' Libya -

Libya rejected the report of the slave auctions as a campaign to portray the country as racist and accused African governments of failing to take responsibility for the well-being of their citizens.

"Libya is the victim of a large-scale false media campaign of defamation to portray it as a racist country," said Libyan acting Ambassador Elmahdi Elmajerbi.

The Libyan envoy said authorities are investigating the slave auctions but that the international community must adopt an approach that tackles "the root causes" of illegal migration.

Any sanctions that target smugglers must also hit those traffickers operating outside Libya, he said.

Ethiopia said the images of the slave auctions had sent shockwaves across Africa and beyond.

"There is a need for urgent action to dismantle the slavery camps and destroy the criminal networks involved in this inhuman practice," said Ethiopia's Ambassador Tekeda Alemu.

"All necessary measures must also be taken to identify all those responsible for this unspeakable and barbaric crime and bring them to justice," he said.

The reported slave auctions have raised questions about EU migration deals which UN officials have said have turned human traffickers into slave traders.

Migration will dominate an EU summit with the African Union in Ivory Coast this week. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will attend.

SOURCE:

afp.com

Comments

CUBA CLAIMS CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER IS FIDEL CASTRO'S SON.

The suicide note left by Fidel Castro’s eldest son has rocked the Cuban nation this week, with the most astonishing revelation being the claim that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was his half-brother and the son of the late Fidel Castro. The handwritten note left by Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, the eldest of Fidel Castro’s children, appears to confirm the longstanding rumor in Cuba that Fidel Castro fathered Justin Trudeau after a public tryst with Margaret Trudeau in 1970. “ Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning ,” Cubadebate website reported. The death of the high-profile government nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, stunned the nation, however it is his “ explosive ” suicide note that has set tongues wagging in Havana. Amid a wide-ranging barrage of compl...

A 26-YEARS-OLD WOMAN ADOPTS 14 AFRICAN ORPHANS.

London, ENGLAND: A young British woman has become mum to a staggering 14 Tanzanian children she met after volunteering in an orphanage on her gap year. Letty McMaster, 26, was just 18 years old when a month-long trip volunteering at an orphanage in Africa changed her life forever. She ended up staying for three years to support the children she had met, and when the orphanage shut down, Letty took in nine youngsters who would have been left homeless. Seven years on, she lives with the children after becoming legal guardian to them ALL - as well as five more kids she met on the streets or at a safe house she runs. Letty McMaster. Letty, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, said: "These children are my whole life, I raise them all on my own and they keep me going through the long hours of juggling everything. "I'd always had in mind that I wanted to help street children so my family and friends weren't surprised but I never expected to end up doing all this. " I am the pa...

LETHOTO'S PRIME MINISTER FACES IMPEACHMENT MOTION OVER HIS WIFE'S ACT.

Lethoto Prime Minister Tom Thabane & The first Lady Maesaiah Thabane. Maseru, LETHOTO: Lesotho's Prime Minister Thomas Thabane is facing a motion of no confidence for allegedly allowing his wife to meddle in government affairs, as political in-fighting rocks his ruling party and threatens the breakdown of his coalition government. The motion was filed in parliament this week by a member of Thabane's own ruling All Basotho Convention (ABC), raising the possibility he will call snap elections in the tiny mountainous southern African kingdom. "We hereby move a motion that this honourable house has no confidence in a government of Lesotho led by the Prime Minister Thomas Motsoahe Thabane," read a motion filed by ABC's Motebang Koma and seconded by the main opposition Democratic Congress deputy leader, Motlalentoa Letsosa. Parliament was adjourned on Monday with no date fixed for it to sit again. While the motion did not o...

MALARIA VACCINE PROVES HIGHLY EFFECTIVE IN BURKINA FASO.

A vaccine against malaria has been shown to be highly effective in trials in Africa, holding out the real possibility of slashing the death toll of a disease that kills 400,000 mostly small children every year. The vaccine, developed by scientists at the Jenner Institute of Oxford University, showed up to 77% efficacy in a trial of 450 children in Burkina Faso over 12 months. The hunt for a malaria vaccine has been going on the best part of a century. One, the Mosquirix vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline, has been through lengthy clinical trials but is only partially effective, preventing 39% of malaria cases and 29% of severe malaria cases among small children in Africa over four years. It is being piloted by the World Health Organization in parts of Kenya, Ghana and Malawi. The Oxford vaccine is the first to meet the WHO goal of 75% efficacy against the mosquito-borne parasite disease. Larger trials are now beginning, involving 4,800 children in four countries. Prof ...

MINERS IN NAMIBIA DISCOVER SHIPWRECK LOADED $13 MILLION WORTH OF GOLD.

Image: Dieter Noli. Diamond miners working off the coast of Africa were beyond surprised when they discovered a 500-year-old shipwreck teeming with gold worth $13 million and other treasures. The ship, aptly named ‘Bom Jesus’ or ‘Good Jesus,’ was like a miracle to the miners. Bom Jesus was first identified and discovered by geologists working for the mining company De Beers in 2008. It was found off the coast of Namibia near Oranjemund. Image: Dieter Noli. According to experts, Bom Jesus is from the Golden era of Portuguese explorers who set sail in all directions in search of new lands to colonize. The ship left Lisbon in 1533 under the supervision of Sir Francisco de Noronha. But on its way to India, it mysteriously vanished. Before the discovery, the miners were draining an artificial salt lake. As the lake dried out, many lost ships were found at the bottom of the lake. Bom Jesus was among them, and it is considered the oldest of all ...

NIGERIAN-BORN TO BE FIRST BLACK DEPUTY TREASURY SECRETARY OF U.S

Washington DC, U.S: Speaking at a Washington think tank in the summer of 2016, Adewale Adeyemo, President Barack Obama’s international economics adviser, warned about the perils of protectionism, explained how a growing Chinese economy was good for the world and talked up the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal he helped negotiate that Democrats ultimately rejected. Four years later, such talk might sound out of touch with a Democratic Party that has become even more hawkish on China and increasingly wary of sprawling international trade deals. But that was not a concern for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who this week tapped Mr. Adeyemo to be deputy Treasury secretary, solidifying his team with another stalwart veteran of the Obama administration who would bring center-left economic ideas, deep experience and diversity to Mr. Biden’s top ranks. Adewale "Wally" Adeyemo (born 1981) is a Nigerian-born American attorney and political advisor serving as the first presi...

BEES 'ARRESTS' SUSPECTED THIEVES IN UGANDA.

Bees 'handcuffed' one of the suspects around the wrist, while another had the TV set reportedly stuck on his hands. Image: Daily Monitor. Kampala, UGANDA: Two burglars who are suspected to have stolen a television set in Sofiia village, Busia Town in eastern Uganda are in police custody after they were attacked by a swarm of bees. Like police would handcuff a suspect, a swarm of bees mobbed the hands of one of the suspects, while another reportedly had the TV set stuck on his hands as they returned the stolen items to where they had been picked from. Ms Rashida Jowelia, the owner of the property, said her TV set was stolen from her house last Friday, but she decided to seek the services of a medicine man in Sofia Village rather than report the matter to police. The suspects were identified as Wycliffe Kinara and Richard Duki, both Kenyan nationals from Nakuru. Bees 'handcuffed' one of them around the wrist, while another had the TV set reportedly stuck on his hands...

THE TRIBE THAT WORSHIPS PRINCE PHILIP AS 'GOD'

Prince Philip corresponded with the villagers over the years, and sent pictures of himself holding a ceremonial club they gave him. Image: REUTERS. Tanna, VANNUATU: As Britons mourn the death of Prince Philip, they are joined by a tribal community on a Pacific island half a world away. For decades, two villages on the Vanuatuan island of Tanna have revered the Duke of Edinburgh as a god-like spiritual figure. A formal period of mourning is now under way. On Monday, 12, April, scores of tribespeople gathered in a ceremony to remember Prince Philip. Image: REUTERS. "The connection between the people on the island of Tanna and the English people is very strong... We are sending condolence messages to the Royal Family and the people of England," said tribal leader Chief Yapa, according to Reuters news agency. For the next few weeks, villagers will periodically meet to conduct rites for the duke, who is seen as a "recycled descendant of a very powerful spirit or god th...

CAR STOLEN BY KENYAN EX-MINISTER FOUND ABANDONED.

Nairobi, KENYA: A classic Mercedes Benz stolen from a showroom in Nairobi by former minister Paul Ngei has been found in a deplorable state. Photos of the car which were shared on social media showed it mounted on stones and without wheels, its bonnet wide open and its paint cracking up. The Mercedes Benz 300SEL registration number KNM 190 was a premium car in its heyday. Paul Joseph Ngei (18 October 1923 – 15 August 2004) was a Kenyan politician who was imprisoned for his role in the anti-colonial movement, but who went on to hold several government ministerial positions after Kenya became independent. Paul Ngei walked into the famous car showroom in Nairobi (DT Dobie) in the 1970s and drove away with the vehicle never to return or pay for it. At the time of its release, it was the world's fastest four-door car and when Ngei was pushed to pay for the vehicle, he would always refer the agents to State House and ask them to send the bill there. The rogue minister drove the car for m...

YOUNG GIRLS FROM INDIA, PAKISTAN & NEPAL ARE TRAFFICKED TO WORK IN KENYAN NIGHTCLUBS.

Nairobi, KENYA: Nepali beautician Sheela* did not think twice about ditching her salon job when she received a call offering seven times her salary to work as a cultural dancer at a nightclub in Kenya. It did not matter that the 23-year-old woman from a village in the Himalayan foothills had never heard of the East African nation. Or that she had no experience as a dancer, had never met the owner of the club and was not shown an employment contract. With elderly parents to care for and medical bills to clear after her brother suffered a motorcycle accident, the offer of a monthly salary of $600, with food, housing and transport costs all covered, was a no-brainer for Sheela. "[But] it was not what I expected," said Sheela, who was rescued with 11 other Nepali women from a nightclub in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa in April where she danced on stage from 9pm to 4am getting tips from male clients. "I was told that being escorted everywhere by the ...

Kioo17 Journal

Search This Blog