Kathy
Feb 10, 2025, South Africa: Libyan authorities have recently uncovered nearly 50 bodies from two mass graves in the southeastern city of Kufra in Libya Southeast Africa, highlighting the ongoing perils faced by migrants traveling through the region.
The first mass grave was discovered on Feb 7 which had 19 bodies on a local farm. Images released by the security directorate showed police officers and medical personnel exhuming bodies wrapped in blankets. Another discovery in Kufra revealed at least 3 additional bodies following a raid on a human trafficking facility, where authorities freed 76 migrants who were being detained and tortured, the office of the attorney general posted on Facebook.
One Libyan and two foreigners are suspected of detaining and torturing migrants. Survivors indicated nearly 70 people had been buried at his site.
Libya’s strategic location makes it a primary transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East aiming to reach Europe. Kufra is more than 1,700 kilometers from Libya’s capital Tripoli. The country’s descent into chaos following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi has led to a power vacuum, with rival governments and militias vying for control. This instability has been exploited by human traffickers who smuggle migrants across Libya’s borders with nations such as Chad, Niger, Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia.
Rights organizations and United Nations agencies have documented systematic abuses against migrants in Libya, including forced labor, beatings, sexual violence, and torture. These abuses are often employed to extort money from migrants’ families before allowing them to embark on perilous sea voyages across the Central Mediterranean. Even those intercepted and returned to Libya frequently endure further mistreatment in government-run detention centers.
The recent discoveries in Kufra underscore the severe risks migrants face in Libya, emphasizing the urgent need for international intervention to address human rights violations and the broader migrant crisis in the region.
Last year, a mass grave containing the bodies of at least 65 migrants was found in the southwest of Libya. Keep Reading Questiqa.com and Questiqa.us for more updates.
Stacy
Olivia
