Sub-Saharan Africans in Libya Bearing The Brunt of The Uprising

In Libya the media has reported that Gaddafi is using his security forces and African mercenaries to kill its citizens. Perhaps this writer has missed something but one is yet to see the evidence of these mercenaries. Instead what has happened is to jeopardize the lives of Black Africans in the regions.

It is now being reported that Africans workers from the sub- Saharan region who bear a different skin color from the Arabs in North Africa, have become targets of attacks by Libyans on suspicion that they are mercenaries. This is after the news reported that Gaddafi was using them.

Dozens of workers from sub-Saharan Africa are feared killed, and hundreds are in hiding, as angry mobs of anti-government protesters hunt down "black African mercenaries," according to witnesses. Some countries like Kenya have evacuated their citizens out of harms way after learning of the danger of their continuous presence in Libya.

A 60 year Kenyan construction worker, Julius Kiluu, who was among the evacuees, on being interviewed said, "We were being attacked by local people who said that we were mercenaries killing people. Let me say that they did not want to see black people. Our camp was burnt down, and we were assisted by the Kenyan embassy and our company to get to the airport,"

Humanitarian organization are finding this issue disturbing particularly because despite the USA sending its military to help topple Gaddafi, they are not addressing the plight of the black Africans. A Mr. Hein de Haas, a senior fellow with the International Migration Institute, in his blog discusses this issue saying “But why is nobody concerned about the plight of sub-Saharan African migrants in Libya? As victims of racism and ruthless exploitation, they are Libya's most vulnerable immigrant population---”.

Rights organizations categorical state that some anti-Gaddafi protesters are wrongly attributing the 1.5 m Sub- Saharan African migrant workers in Libya with state-sponsored violence. Saad Jabbar, deputy director of the North Africa Centre at Cambridge University warns about the situation stating "I think it is urgent to do something about it now, otherwise, a genocide against anyone who has black skin and who doesn't speak perfect Arabic is possible,"

This is news that is not being highlighted yet it is reality. It looks bad on the USA who is sending weaponry to Libya to fight Gaddafi. Since it is Black Africans that are being attacked on the guise of being mercenaries, how can we trust anyone?