The Federal Government on Thursday described the reported killings of Nigerians and other sub-Saharan Africans in Libya as worrisome, asking the country’s Transitional National Council to put an end to it. The government said this in a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The statement issued by the ministry’s spokesperson, Mr. Damian Agu, reiterated the Federal Government’s support for the Libyan people but urged the rebels’ leaders to check the excesses of their men. www.naijapaymentonline.com
The statement says, “Reports revealed outright killings, rape and extortion of money from these helpless Africans who have taken refuge in camps, as well as those in detention and incarceration.
“This development is a deviation from the overall expressed desire of the Transition National Council, the African Union and indeed the United Nations for the restoration of democracy and good governance in Libya.”
The Federal Government said the extra-judicial killings ran contrary to Nigeria’s call for the leadership of the TNC to be magnanimous in victory.
“While confirming that the concern of the Nigerian Government on this reported development has accordingly been brought to the urgent attention of the representatives of the TNC, the Government again seizes this opportunity to call on the leadership of the TNC to immediately take steps to check the excesses of these unscrupulous elements in Libya in order to pave way for the restoration of genuine democracy and true reconciliation.”
Reports on Wednesday claimed that rebels of the TNC were killing black Africans, including Nigerians, accused of being sympathetic to ousted Libyan leader, Col. Moammar Gaddafi.
A British newspaper, Daily Telegraph, reported that the victims included Nigerians, black Libyans and other sub-Saharan Africans.
One report says 20 black men were found dead outside Gaddafi’s compound after Libyan rebels captured Tripoli. Their hands were tied behind their backs and some of them had been shot in the head.
On the road south out of Tripoli, about 200 black people were also said to be hiding in a small encampment made of two small outbuildings shielded by a small wall and a metal door. Most of them were Nigerians and Ghanaians.
Amnesty International said it was told that between one third and half of those detained by rebels were from sub-Saharan Africa.
“An Amnesty International delegation visiting the Central Tripoli Hospital witnessed three Thuwwar revolutionaries, as the opposition fighters are commonly known, dragging a black patient from the western town of Tawargha from his bed and detaining him.
“The Thuwwar said the man would be taken to Misrata for questioning. Two other black Libyans receiving treatment in the hospital for gunshot wounds were warned by the anti-Gaddafi forces that their turn was coming,” a statement by the group said.
Meanwhile, two lawmakers in separate interviews berated President Goodluck Jonathan for not taking prompt action on the killings. The lawmakers spoke to our correspondents before the foreign ministry issued a statement.
Senator Babafemi Ojudu, in an interview with journalists in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday, said, “President Jonathan must come out to say that enough is enough of (the) mindless killings of Nigerians. The rebels are still killing them, they tie their hands and legs and stuff clothes in their mouths.
“These Nigerians and other dark skinned people are just some of the migrants seeking to travel to Europe through Libya. President Jonathan should make a pronouncement about this but they appear not to be concerned about this.”
He said over 1,000 Nigerians travelling to Europe through Libya might have been killed by the rebels whom he described as racists. He said there was the likelihood that the Senate might cut short their recess, adding that he had sent a message to Senator George Akume, the Minority Leader, on the need to talk to Senate President David Mark to reconvene the Senate.
“I think all of us must come out of our holiday to address these issues (the UN bombing and the Ibadan floods). I think some people who are behind some of these problems are out to truncate our democracy,” the Senator added.
Speaking also, a member of the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele, of the Action Congress of Nigeria, said the country should ensure that those who killed Nigerians were brought to book.
“People should be made to pay dearly for messing up with the lives of Nigerians,” Opeyemi, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs, said.
He urged the Federal Government to immediately evacuate Nigerians in the country to put a stop to the carnage
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