Libyan regime accused of exploiting boat people

[joshcryer]

Source: The Guardian

The Libyan regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is allowing thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants on to overcrowded, unseaworthy ships in an apparently calculated attempt to use migration as a weapon to pressure Nato and the EU countries backing Libya's rebels.

Libyan officials admit they are not preventing boats full with African migrants embarking on perilous journeys to Europe. This is in protest at air strikes, which they say have destroyed the country's coastguard.

...

Fleming said one survivor had told the UN refugee agency that he and others had initially refused to board a ship they believed to be dangerously overcrowded. Libyan soldiers fired their guns into the air to force people to go on board, the survivor said.

Other survivors told the UN that some ships were leaving Tripoli only for their captain to disembark once they were at sea and take a pilot boat back to shore. "They (the migrants) are told, 'here's the compass, you go that way'," Fleming said.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/11/libya-accused-of-exploiting-humanitarian-crisis

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As I suspected.

[joshcryer]

1. I remember a dozen posts criticizing NATO for not helping these people.

Basically silence on Gaddafi enabling people to drown by overloading boats and forcing them on them. :(

[Fool Count]

2. If NATO did not start that stupid war they all would still

have jobs and comfortable lives in Libya. NATO forced them on those boats, not Qaddafi. That is a fact.

[joshcryer]

3. NATO didn't force that stupid war.

But you're correct that NATOs involvement probably compelled Gaddafi's thugs to put people on boats at gunpoint to the point of unsafe conditions.

[pampango]

5. +1

[CJvR]

4. Surprised?

After what Mad Dog has been doing in Libya for almost three months?

Then there is the harsh truth...
Died at sea - expenses - ZERO vs Arrived in Europe - expenses - medical, legal, wellfare, etc...

[al bupp]

6. More evidence of 'Daffi's crimes against humanity

But will the "anti-imperialists" around here see it that way? It's not likely. I find it remarkable the lengths some will go to in order to justify their preconceived ideology.

[Uncle Joe]

7. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, joshcryer.