LIBYA: Joint Rescue Operation to Repatriate Enslaved Migrants

French President Emmanuel Macron has revealed plans to set up an emergency evacuation force that will work to resolve the immigrant slavery that has taken root in Libya.

The task force will free illegally detained migrants whose journey to Europe ended in solitude in the northern African country and repatriate them to their countries.

President Macron who is currently in Ivory Coast for an African Union-Europian Union summit said that the intervention, a joint effort of the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) will happen “in the next few days”.

He described the ongoing auctioneering of the migrants as a “crime against humanity”.

Libya backed the plan that will see the migrants sent mainly back to their home countries. It will lead the coordination of the operation.

The evacuation plan has also been supported by Germany, Chad and Niger.

Macron said force will be “a joint policing and military operation to clear illegal detention centres and dismantle smuggling networks”. He called for sanctions for individuals and networks of traffickers.

“It’s not about declaring war, Libya is a state in political transition … but there’s reinforced police action that needs to be done to dismantle those networks. We’ll do it,” the French President told the press.

In the last few days, photos from Libyan detention camps have sparked outrage from African states, humanitarian organizations and the international community condemning the dehumanizing state in which migrants from Sub Saharan African counties are trapped in in Libya.

A footage by CNN showed youths being sold to buyers for about USD 400 (Shs 1.4 million) in Libya.

It is estimated that over 3,000 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Italy this year, it was confirmed this week.