Exclusive report People for sale Where lives are auctioned for $400
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By Nima Elbagir, Raja Razek, Alex Platt and Bryony Jones Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- "Eight hundred," says the auctioneer. "900 ... 1,000 ... 1,100 ..." Sold. For 1,200 Libyan dinars -- the equivalent of $800.
Not a used car, a piece of land, or an item of furniture. Not "merchandise" at all, but two human beings. One of the unidentified men being sold in the grainy cell phone video obtained by CNN is Nigerian. He appears to be in his twenties and is wearing a pale shirt and sweatpants. He has been offered up for sale as one of a group of "big strong boys for farm work," according to the auctioneer, who remains off camera. Only his hand -- resting proprietorially on the man's shoulder -- is visible in the brief clip.
After seeing footage of this slave auction, CNN worked to verify its authenticity and traveled to Libya to investigate further. Carrying concealed cameras into a property outside the capital of Tripoli last month, we witness a dozen people go "under the hammer" in the space of six or seven minutes. "Does anybody need a digger? This is a digger, a big strong man, he'll dig," the salesman, dressed in camouflage gear, says. "What am I bid, what am I bid?" Buyers raise their hands as the price rises, "500, 550, 600, 650 ..." Within minutes it is all over and the men, utterly resigned to their fate, are being handed over to their new "masters."
After the auction, we met two of the men who had been sold. They were so traumatized by what they'd been through that they could not speak, and so scared that they were suspicious of everyone they met. Crackdown on smugglers Each year, tens of thousands of people pour across Libya's borders. They're refugees fleeing conflict or economic migrants in search of better opportunities in Europe. Most have sold everything they own to finance the journey through Libya to the coast and the gateway to the Mediterranean. But a recent clampdown by the Libyan coastguard means fewer boats are making it out to sea, leaving the smugglers with a backlog of would-be passengers on their hands. So the smugglers become masters, the migrants and refugees become slaves.
Watch full documentary: Libya's migrant slave trade Migrants rescued from the Mediterranean arrive at a naval base in Tripoli in October. Migrants rescued from the Mediterranean arrive at a naval base in Tripoli in October. The evidence filmed by CNN has now been handed over to the Libyan authorities, who have promised to launch an investigation. First Lieutenant Naser Hazam of the government's Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency in Tripoli told CNN that although he had not witnessed a slave auction, he acknowledged that organized gangs are operating smuggling rings in the country. "They fill a boat with 100 people, those people may or may not make it," Hazam says. "(The smuggler) does not care as long as he gets the money, and the migrant may get to Europe or die at sea."
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"The situation is dire," Mohammed Abdiker, the director of operation and emergencies for the International Organization for Migration, said in a statement after returning from Tripoli in April. "Some reports are truly horrifying and the latest reports of 'slave markets' for migrants can be added to a long list of outrages." The auctions take place in a seemingly normal town in Libya filled with people leading regular lives. Children play in the street; people go to work, talk to friends and cook dinners for their families. But inside the slave auctions it's like we've stepped back in time. The only thing missing is the shackles around the migrants' wrists and ankles. Deportation 'back to square one' Anes Alazabi is a supervisor at a detention center in Tripoli for migrants that are due to be deported. He says he's heard "a lot of stories" about the abuse carried out by smugglers. The Treeq Alsika Migrant Detention Center in Tripoli, where some migrants are held by Libyan authorities before they are repatriated. The Treeq Alsika Migrant Detention Center in Tripoli, where some migrants are held by Libyan authorities before they are repatriated. "I'm suffering for them. What I have seen here daily, believe me, it makes me feel pain for them," he says. "Every day I can hear a new story from people. You have to listen to all of them. It's their right to deliver their voices." One of the detained migrants, a young man named Victory, says he was sold at a slave auction. Tired of the rampant corruption in Nigeria's Edo state, the 21-year-old fled home and spent a year and four months -- and his life savings -- trying to reach Europe. He made it as far as Libya, where he says he and other would-be migrants were held in grim living conditions, deprived of food, abused and mistreated by their captors. "If you look at most of the people here, if you check your bodies, you see the marks. They are beaten, mutilated." When his funds ran out, Victory was sold as a day laborer by his smugglers, who told him that the profit made from the transactions would serve to reduce his debt. But after weeks of being forced to work, Victory was told the money he'd been bought for wasn't enough. He was returned to his smugglers, only to be re-sold several more times.
The smugglers also demanded ransom payments from Victory's family before eventually releasing him.
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Nigerian migrant: 'I was sold' 03:15 "I spent a million-plus [Nigerian naira, or $2,780]," he tells CNN from the detention center, where he is waiting to be sent back to Nigeria. "My mother even went to a couple villages, borrowing money from different couriers to save my life." As the route through north Africa becomes increasingly fraught, many migrants have relinquished their dreams of ever reaching European shores. This year, more than 8,800 individuals have opted to voluntarily return home on repatriation flights organized by the IOM. Opinion: Abuse of migrants in Libya is a blot on world's conscience While many of his friends from Nigeria have made it to Europe, Victory is resigned to returning home empty-handed. "I could not make it, but I thank God for the life of those that make it," he says. "I'm not happy," he adds. "I go back and start back from square one. It's very painful. Very painful." CNN's Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Byron Manley, Henrik Pettersson, Mark Oliver, Muhammad Darwish and Edward Kiernan contributed to this report.
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posted
I wonder if the mistreatment is solely base upon the economic situation in North Africa or partly because those mulatto types don't see themselves as Africans and associate dark skin with slavery?
Posts: 1123 | From: New York | Registered: Feb 2016
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Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
Before my last hiatus I broached a thread into the phenomena of Inner African transsaharan slavery. It started with today's Libya and was to go progressingly back in time examining the Bilma Trail history and movements from Lake Chad to Libya since the Green Sahara.
posted
I blame Obama and Hilary for destabilizing the whole region. Gaddafi was no saint at all especially in the early days when he tried to invade Chad. HOWEVER, he kept the region stablized. Now the whole Northwest Africa and Western Sahel is all fucked up.
Posts: 1891 | From: NY | Registered: Sep 2014
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French president blames Africans for Libya slave trade Emmanuel Macron loses cool when answering questions of students at University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso
French President Emmanuel Macron has blamed African slave traders for auctioning other Africans in Libya.
Macron made the remarks at a panel of nearly 1,000 students at the University of Ouagadougou during his visit to Burkina Faso Tuesday.
When a student accused western countries of being slow and timid in their response to reports about the sale trade in Libya, the French president appeared to have lost his temper.
''Who are the traffickers? They are Africans ... Show me a Belgian, French or German smuggler or whatever else! You will not find one!'' he said.
''There are African slave traders who trade other Africans, that is the reality. There are Europeans who benefit from this misery in Europe... These are crimes in both cases and we are fighting both cases.''
He slammed the sale of migrants in Libya.
"The tragedies unfolding before our eyes in Libya are a crime against humanity," he said.
Macron arrived in Burkina Faso on Monday night, the first stop on a three-day African tour to Ivory Coast where he will take part in the AU-EU meeting and later also visit Ghana.
The French president later calmed down and joked about a malfunctioning air conditioner.
"Somewhere, you speak to me as if I was still a colonial power, but I do not want to deal with electricity in the universities in Burkina Faso. This is the work of the president," he said.
President Kabore then got up and left the hall while smiling.
"Stay Here!," the French president said.
''He went to repair the air conditioning!" he then said.
"If President Kabore wants to leave the Franc Zone, he can do it when he wants!... As soon as he has finished repairing the air conditioner..."
Posts: 42940 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
This thread's hard reading for Diasporan males who surely realize ensuing consequences finding oneself accidentally in Mauritania or Libya in the wrong place at the wrong time without the right people.
We've seen current Libyan slaving Links to ongoing Mauritanian slavery Currently Morocco is even covert slave free Including the below as another AraboBerber view
quote:Essesissah 2015
Under Islamic law, Muslims are not only allowed to enslave other Muslims, but they are required to treat their religionists with respect and compassion. However, the spirit of Islam in regard to slavery has not always been fully respected by Muslims. More poignantly, Muslims have abused the Jihad right and launched conquest to enslave other Muslims. For example, the Mauritanian context represents a serious deviation from religion. The Mauritanian Arab-Berbers have transgressed the will of Allah, by wrongly enslaving their co-religious Africans, harshly mistreating them, and exploiting their free labor. In effect, the enslavement of the Hratin was not a direct outcome of Jihad between Muslims and non-Muslims (Mohamedou, 2012). On the contrary, Hratin’s enslavement in North Africa was generally the result of raids and kidnappings. According to El Hamel (2002),
quote: . . . Islamic law implicitly forbade Muslims to enslave fellow Muslims. Historical events, however, point to instances where Muslims did in fact enslave other Muslims. The enslavement of [free blacks, already enslaved blacks, and] Haratin, [who were all Moroccan citizens augumented by enslaved blacks from the Western Sudan] during the reign of the Alawi Sultan Mawlay Isma’il (r. 1672-1727) is one particularly poignant example. The enslavement of the haratin by the Sultan for the purposes of forming an army consisting solely of black slaves (jaysh ’abid al-bukhari) and the debate that it engendered, which still exists in a surprisingly well documented historical record, marked a crucial turning point in the history of social relations between groups of different skin colours in Morocco, and what has more recently been articulated as “racial” relations. (pp. 30-31)
In a much earlier study, Ahmad Baba Al-Timbukti made similar arguments when he claimed that the enslavement of free Black Muslims across the Sahara desert was a gross injustice and violation of Islam. He based his views mainly on the fact that Africans were already practicing Islam since the 14th century and prior to their capturing and enslavement by nomadic Arab- Berber tribes (Echenguity, 2012). Ahmed Baba issued a fatwa denouncing the practice of Arab-Berbers who enslaved Africans, because of their race and skin color. As Cleaveland (2015) asserts, "Ahmad Baba wrote a legal treatise that criticised the association of ‘Black’ Africans with slaves, especially through the racialised version of the curse of Ham” (p. 43). Cleaveland goes further to state that Ahmad Baba’s effort to eliminate the practices of slavery
quote:went far beyond a mere interpretation of law and practice, and made a specific attempt to change the behaviour of North Africans, whom he accused of sometimes purchasing West African slaves on the basis of race, rather than according to the regulations of Islam. (p. 49)
quote:Originally posted by Elite Diasporan: I blame Obama and Hilary for destabilizing the whole region. Gaddafi was no saint at all especially in the early days when he tried to invade Chad. HOWEVER, he kept the region stabilized. Now the whole Northwest Africa and Western Sahel is all fucked up.
This! It was all a scheme to get crooked Hillary elected, this is what is in the emails that Trump keeps yelling about and is connected to Benghazi.
-------------------- It's not my burden to disabuse the ignorant of their wrong opinions Posts: 2707 | From: New York | Registered: Jun 2015
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posted
The part that I do not get is Libya only has 6 million people. The other African countries have many more people and they can't stop less than the 6 million from enslaving their own people?
Posts: 1115 | From: GOD Bless the USA | Registered: May 2006
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Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
You mean like the Barbary War when Euro whites put an end to Muslims, many who were their own captured and/or converted people, enslaving them?
Anyway, these Libyans are superiorly armed and damned good fighters, honing their skills and testing their weapons on each other every day.
quote:Originally posted by the lioness,: I don't know enough about this topic to judge this but here are French President Emmanuel Macron's comments in late November, last year 2017:
French president blames Africans for Libya slave trade Emmanuel Macron loses cool when answering questions of students at University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso
French President Emmanuel Macron has blamed African slave traders for auctioning other Africans in Libya.
Macron made the remarks at a panel of nearly 1,000 students at the University of Ouagadougou during his visit to Burkina Faso Tuesday.
When a student accused western countries of being slow and timid in their response to reports about the sale trade in Libya, the French president appeared to have lost his temper.
''Who are the traffickers? They are Africans ... Show me a Belgian, French or German smuggler or whatever else! You will not find one!'' he said.
''There are African slave traders who trade other Africans, that is the reality. There are Europeans who benefit from this misery in Europe... These are crimes in both cases and we are fighting both cases.''
He slammed the sale of migrants in Libya.
"The tragedies unfolding before our eyes in Libya are a crime against humanity," he said.
Macron arrived in Burkina Faso on Monday night, the first stop on a three-day African tour to Ivory Coast where he will take part in the AU-EU meeting and later also visit Ghana.
The French president later calmed down and joked about a malfunctioning air conditioner.
"Somewhere, you speak to me as if I was still a colonial power, but I do not want to deal with electricity in the universities in Burkina Faso. This is the work of the president," he said.
President Kabore then got up and left the hall while smiling.
"Stay Here!," the French president said.
''He went to repair the air conditioning!" he then said.
"If President Kabore wants to leave the Franc Zone, he can do it when he wants!... As soon as he has finished repairing the air conditioner..."
This is the 2nd time a French President has humiliated West Africans in a speech in their very presence. It's unacceptable.
Posts: 1568 | From: Pluto | Registered: Sep 2008
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posted
No one cares because the enslavers are not white so they cannot be shamed or reasoned with or held to an idealism. But I suspect, and this is just a suspicion not fact, that EU is paying these Arabs to enslave Blacks in an effort to scare others from making the trek to Europe illegally.
quote:Originally posted by Black Crystal: No one cares because the enslavers are not white so they cannot be shamed or reasoned with or held to an idealism. But I suspect, and this is just a suspicion not fact, that EU is paying these Arabs to enslave Blacks in an effort to scare others from making the trek to Europe illegally.
Excellent point.
It's just like how you can't shame Putin by saying he's a dictator. Russian people willingly vote their strongmen to power. If you try to make some sophisticated high-brow point about human rights they'll just laugh at you.
You have to talk to them in a language they understand. Khadafi was all types of fluent in that language.
Posts: 8785 | From: Discovery Channel's Mythbusters | Registered: Dec 2009
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quote:Originally posted by Black Crystal: No one cares because the enslavers are not white so they cannot be shamed or reasoned with or held to an idealism. But I suspect, and this is just a suspicion not fact, that EU is paying these Arabs to enslave Blacks in an effort to scare others from making the trek to Europe illegally.
Excellent point.
It's just like how you can't shame Putin by saying he's a dictator. Russian people willingly vote their strongmen to power. If you try to make some sophisticated high-brow point about human rights they'll just laugh at you.
You have to talk to them in a language they understand. Khadafi was all types of fluent in that language.
Power only respects power. You can't come from a position of less or non-existent power and "lesson" powerful people/nations about what's morally correct/right. Humans will ALWAYS prefer power than the "moral high-ground".
Posts: 117 | From: Earth | Registered: Feb 2014
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quote:Originally posted by Black Crystal: No one cares because the enslavers are not white so they cannot be shamed or reasoned with or held to an idealism. But I suspect, and this is just a suspicion not fact, that EU is paying these Arabs to enslave Blacks in an effort to scare others from making the trek to Europe illegally.
Excellent point.
It's just like how you can't shame Putin by saying he's a dictator. Russian people willingly vote their strongmen to power. If you try to make some sophisticated high-brow point about human rights they'll just laugh at you.
You have to talk to them in a language they understand. Khadafi was all types of fluent in that language.
Power only respects power. You can't come from a position of less or non-existent power and "lesson" powerful people/nations about what's morally correct/right. Humans will ALWAYS prefer power than the "moral high-ground".
I don't think that that works all the time. In the US you certainly don't need power to get concessions from those in power. Minorities do this all the time. But then again, one could argue that victimhood is a form of power in and of itself.
posted
It’s not slavery, it’s stupid people who go into a war torn country with a bag of money trying to get into Europe where they almost always end up in poverty. That is why African leaders (governments) don’t care too much. The amount of money they spend trying to get to Europe, could have been invested in a business in the native country.
Libya has no central government. Libya has three parties fighting over territory, trying to gain control of Libya. And yes it’s true most people in Libya aren’t native to Libya. They aren’t aboriginals, they are foreign to Libya and Africa. Most of them are probably of Turkish descendant.
Have you’ll forgotten this?
quote: Berbers, or Amazigh, make up 5-10% of Libya's six million population
Members of Libya's minority Berber, or Amazigh, community have stormed the parliament building in Tripoli.
A spokesman for the General National Congress (GNC) said windows were smashed, furniture destroyed and documents belonging to deputies stolen.
There were no reports of any injuries after the incident, which happened during a break in a regular session.
The Amazigh were demanding that the future constitution recognise their language, ethnicity and culture.
Though they make up just 5-10% of Libya's six million population, Amazigh predate the Arab settlers who brought Islam with them from the east.
They suffered decades of repression and discrimination during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, who was overthrown during an uprising in 2011.
Gaddafi saw Amazigh as a threat to his view of Libya as a homogenous Arab society. The Amazigh language and script Tamazight, which is distinct from Arabic, were officially banned and could not be taught in schools. Giving children Amazigh names was forbidden.
Amazigh fighters played an important role in the armed rebellion against the Gaddafi regime. One of the main fronts was in the Nafusa Mountains, where the population is predominantly Amazigh.
quote:Originally posted by Black Crystal: No one cares because the enslavers are not white so they cannot be shamed or reasoned with or held to an idealism. But I suspect, and this is just a suspicion not fact, that EU is paying these Arabs to enslave Blacks in an effort to scare others from making the trek to Europe illegally.
Excellent point.
It's just like how you can't shame Putin by saying he's a dictator. Russian people willingly vote their strongmen to power. If you try to make some sophisticated high-brow point about human rights they'll just laugh at you.
You have to talk to them in a language they understand. Khadafi was all types of fluent in that language.
Power only respects power. You can't come from a position of less or non-existent power and "lesson" powerful people/nations about what's morally correct/right. Humans will ALWAYS prefer power than the "moral high-ground".
I agree. But at the same time, I think there have always been nations that were about win/win relationships, even when they were dealing with neighbours that were weak militarily. Not every one lives by 'might makes right' and taking advantage of society's weak. Some want you to believe that is only natural, so they can excuse the evil things they did/do. Some nations are just morally rotten and have no moral compass. This applies to first world countries that prey on third world countries, but also MENA countries that allow enslavement/shooting/raping of non-Muslim guests who are just passing through. They're morally rotten. I wouldn't put that on human nature.
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In February 2011, on Barack Obama's orders, the U.S. military took part in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities including the use of Tomahawk missiles, B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets. Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all of its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of the effort, dubbed Operation Unified Protector. Some Representatives questioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath
"Last month, EU leaders under pressure to stop the tide of migrants travelling to Europe signed a deal with Libya. Far from helping people escape, this deal is aimed at keeping them there. It’s only one step away from forcibly returning them. "
Posts: 42940 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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How to stop the slave trade in Libya and beyond Jan 5, 2018
To tackle the slave trade, we need to address the root causes, writes Maurice Middleberg, of Free the Slaves
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posted
What is puzzling in all this is Black Africans know they face possible enslavement when crossing through Libya. Yet, they migrate to that country anyway. Is it so destitute in their native countries that enslavement is an acceptable cost?
quote:Originally posted by Black Crystal: What is puzzling in all this is Black Africans know they face possible enslavement when crossing through Libya. Yet, they migrate to that country anyway. Is it so destitute in their native countries that enslavement is an acceptable cost?
It is a risk they are willing to take to try to get into Europe. Some get to Europe and being poor in Europe is not on the poverty level of where they are coming from, including war ravaged areas
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Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
It's an old African phenomena. The history of a 'work force' crossing north across the Sahara is at least 2000 years old. Lake Tschad - Bilma Trail: 19th/20thCenturyLibya Kanem-Bornu Garamante-Agysimba Green Sahara
I think since the overt marketplace is post Qaddafi, in fact very recent, no work seekers expected slavery. It is after all extremely limited. At worst mistreated day labor may be in mind of those going no further than North Africa. The ones who eyed Europe had money enough to believe they'd make it. Maybe they never knew about the scruples of the transportation agents?
Me? Knowing anything about Libya from the news a black is either insane or desperate beyond measure to get anywhere near Libya.
From the OP Victory, says he was sold at a slave auction. Tired of the rampant corruption in Nigeria's Edo state, the 21-year-old fled home and spent a year and four months -- and his life savings -- trying to reach Europe. He made it as far as Libya, where he says he and other would-be migrants were held in grim living conditions, deprived of food, abused and mistreated by their captors. "If you look at most of the people here, if you check your bodies, you see the marks. They are beaten, mutilated." When his funds ran out, Victory was sold as a day laborer by his smugglers, who told him that the profit made from the transactions would serve to reduce his debt. But after weeks of being forced to work, Victory was told the money he'd been bought for wasn't enough. He was returned to his smugglers, only to be re-sold several more times.
The smugglers also demanded ransom payments from Victory's family before eventually releasing him.
posted
And for this I am thankful I am in the West.
quote:Originally posted by the lioness,:
quote:Originally posted by Black Crystal: What is puzzling in all this is Black Africans know they face possible enslavement when crossing through Libya. Yet, they migrate to that country anyway. Is it so destitute in their native countries that enslavement is an acceptable cost?
It is a risk they are willing to take to try to get into Europe. Some get to Europe and being poor in Europe is not on the poverty level of where they are coming from, including war ravaged areas
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