The 21st Century Slave Trade In Libya

The year is 2017 and the happenings around the world seems to be moving at a faster pace with humankind trying to catch up with what is going on around him/her. Today, you hear a suicide bombing in Iraq/Afghanistan/Somalia/Syria and tomorrow you hear of a terrorist attack in the USA, France or England with 100s of innocent lives lost through no fault of theirs. When such unfortunate events happen, the various social media platforms are flooded with updates about them and pictures are quickly released and shared on these platforms. Some people too, especially, Africans south of the Sahara are also trying everything possible to cross the Sahara Desert and further cross the Mediterranean Sea in their quest to get to Europe for greener pastures. Some of these migrants are fleeing from their war torn countries and they think they can only be safe once they make it to Europe.

But the journey through the Sahara Desert and across the Mediterranean Sea is fraught with death, robberies, rape and slavery. Many of the migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea as their boats capsize as a result of overcrowding.  A lot of these migrants die from thirst and hunger on the Sahara Desert. Most of the women are also raped and killed by some of the middlemen and armed robbers. These migrants are made to part with huge sums of money by the middlemen. Failure to pay these amounts results in one being left to die in the desert or sold into slavery to wealthy landowners and businessmen who use them as slaves on their date palm plantations and also house helps. The month of November, 2017 saw the various social media platforms especially, Facebook being awash with the horrors of the selling of Black African migrants into slavery in Libya. These Africans are being sold for $400, $500 and $600 each.

These Africans are auctioned and sold as slaves in Libya. The UN, AU and ECOWAS are urgently called upon to act now and free these young Africans held in ‘Slave Markets’ in Libya. The slave auctioning of African migrants in Libya shows how humans are deprived of all dignity. We should renounce all forms of ideology and prejudice that reduce people to merchandise. God save Africa.

   

The Journey of Death 2

For many centuries human beings have moved from one geographical area to the other for several reasons. Some travel in search of greener pastures, religious freedom, to tour historic sites, to flee from conflicts and wars in their countries. In fact the reasons for traveling are numerous and these travelers encounter a lot of hardships and misfortunes when moving from one place to the other.

Africans are known to be traveling to all  corners of the earth for some of the above reasons. But the journey so far has been one characterized by death. This happens especially to those who wish to go through the desert and also cross the Mediterranean Sea and get to Europe illegally. They fall prey to the so called connection men who try to ferry them across the Mediterranean Sea in their rickety boats. Most at times they charge them exorbitant fees before they board the boats. Many of them do not reach their intended destinations as often the boats capsize and the migrants drown in the sea. Thus the Mediterranean Sea has now become a grave for many of these travelers who want to get to Europe at all cost.

This journey i call the "Journey of Death" because of the perils and dangers involved. Most of these illegal migrants are from Libya, Eritrea, Tunisia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and other parts of West Africa. They have the notion that once they make it to Europe, they will get the opportunity to get a job, make some money and send some home for the upkeep of their families.

But who is to be blamed for these senseless deaths? African leaders have failed woefully to better the living conditions of their people. They rather tend to pay attention to misplaced priorities and forget totally about the plight of the people. If they also use the revenue generated from the natural resources judiciously, there will be no need for Africans to brave the perils and dangers of the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea before they reach Europe. The blood of the thousands  of illegal migrants who have died in the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea is crying out to Mother Earth. What can Europe do to stem this tide? Your suggestions are welcome.

The Journey Of Death

My heart is heavy with grief and sadness as i write this post. Why should our brothers and sisters die such needless deaths in the Mediterranean sea in their quest to seek greener pastures outside the continent? Over the past two weeks the media has been awash with horrifying images of bodies of African migrants who got drowned while trying to journey in boats to the Italian island of Lampedusa. It was reported that about 300 of the purported 500 migrants on board the crude boats died as a result of  the boat capsizing due to the bad weather on the high seas. More of these unfortunate deaths are still being reported as the days go by. What about those who died on the Sahara Desert? Most of these deaths go unreported and no proper burial is given to them. Mother Africa weeps for her children who embark on this "Journey of Death" to Europe. I sometimes ask myself why our brothers and sisters embark on this dangerous and perilous journey to Europe? One would say that they embark on these journeys to Europe to make sure they make some money and see to it that their families back home on the continent have a better life. But to me, i would say that this shows that we have a serious leadership crisis and failure in Africa as our leaders would rather amass wealth and stash huge sums of money in foreign bank accounts. Rather than see to the well being of their citizens, our leaders always have their personal and selfish interests always as their first priority. The citizens are just asking for good roads, better education systems, good drinking water, employment avenues and many more. If all these are done by our leaders, no African would think of embarking on this "Journey of Death" to Europe to live a better life as they are being made to believe. We should stop blaming the white man for every thing that goes wrong in Africa and put pressure on our leaders in Africa to do the right thing. The days of colonialism are fast gone and we as Africans can do better than the blame game we always stick to. Just to quote the words of Mr. Franklin Cudjoe of Imani Ghana, "Italy should not allow the Eritrean Government to convey the dead bodies of Eritreans back to the Dictatorial hell hole called Eritrea. That would be triple jeopardy. Please let the unfortunate brave political slaves die as martyrs and their souls rest for ever in Italy." May their souls rest in peace.