Slave trade in Libya evil, horrifying; UN must act immediately - Ablakwa

Ranking Member on Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa has described as horrifying and evil the situation where black Africans are being auctioned as slaves in Libya.

Those who have watched the investigative report by CNN, were not able to control themselves after watching the video and were left outraged, up fronted when they saw fellow Africans, being auctioned in an open slave market for a pittance, he said.

‘’These human beings are taken away by slave masters,'' said. Hundreds of African refugees are being bought and sold in "slave markets" across Libya every week, a special investigative report by CNN revealed some few days ago. Many of them ended up being murdered by their smugglers in the open desert or die from thirst or car accidents in the vast Libyan desert, the report has indicated. Commenting on the issue, the MP for North Tongu, said it ''is outrageous'' in the 21st century for this to happen.

‘’It’s unimaginable that in the 21st century this would be happening. The sad part of this whole development is that, this is being perpetrated by fellow Africans on Africans. It is totally unimaginable. This is not the 16th century, it is not the 17th century,’’ he said.

The MP who made a statement in Parliament today [Wednesday] on the matter said, ‘’it was just last week the Danish Queen mother, apologized to Ghana on behalf of Denmark, for their role in the slave trade and ‘’we all thought that slavery is a matter that has been put behind us but now in the 21st century, we are seeing in Libya fellow black Africans been subjected to torture,’’ he added.

Meanwhile, he suggested for military intervention on the matter. Mr. Ablakwa noted that the inability of AU to be proactive on the current development is worrying.

“We need to get in there to rescue these African migrants. The CNN documentary reveals that there are nine centers…nine detention camps. Those detention camps have to be raided and those African migrants have to be rescued immediately,” he stated.