Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 4 July 2019

Airstrike kills 44 migrants in Libyan detention center

By RAMI MUSA is determined to restore sta-
SAMY MAGDY bility to the North African
Associated Press country. His rivals, mainly
BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — An Islamists, are supported by
airstrike hit a detention cen- Turkey and Qatar.
ter for migrants near the Lib- His forces control much of
yan capital of Tripoli early Libya’s east and south but
Wednesday, killing at least suffered a significant blow
44 people and wound- last week when militias al-
ing dozens of others in an lied with the Tripoli govern-
attack that the U.N. hu- ment reclaimed Gharyan,
man rights chief said could a town about 100 kilome-
amount to a war crime. ters (62 miles) from the
The Tripoli-based govern- capital and a key LNA sup-
ment blamed the attack ply route.
on forces associated with On Monday, the LNA said
Gen. Khalifa Hifter, whose it had begun an air cam-
Libyan National Army has paign on rival forces in Trip-
been waging an offen- oli. Fathi Bashagha, interior
sive against rival militias in Debris covers the ground and an emergency vehicle after an airstrike at a detention center in minister of the Tripoli-based
the capital of the war-torn Tajoura, east of Tripoli in Libya, Wednesday, July 3, 2019. government, alleged that
North African country since Associated Press Hifter’s foreign allies were
April. The attack refocused wounded. They said the The airstrike “killed by sur- Gen. Khaled el-Mahjoub, a behind the airstrike and
attention and raised ques- rest were killed, indicating prise innocent people spokesman for Hifter’s LNA told the AP that they “went
tions about the European the final death toll could be whose dire conditions forces, denied targeting mad” after his forces lost
Union’s policy of cooper- much higher. forced them to be in that the detention center, say- Gharyan. He did not iden-
ating with the militias that Prince Alfani, the Libya shelter,” said U.N. envoy for ing it was the militia camp tify any countries or provide
hold migrants in crowded medical coordinator for Libya Ghassan Salame. in the Tajoura neighbor- any supporting evidence.
and squalid detention Doctors Without Borders, The head of the African hood that was the target. He also denied weapons
centers to prevent them visited the detention cen- Union, Moussa Faki Maha- He did not deny, however, were stored at the deten-
from crossing the Mediter- ter in Tajoura hours before mat, also condemned the that the migrant detention tion facility complex.
ranean to seek better lives the airstrike and said it had airstrike, urging an inde- center was hit. Security analyst Oded
in Europe. Most of them held 126 migrants. Survivors pendent investigation and “We didn’t give orders to Berkowitz said the LNA has
were apprehended by the fear for their lives, he said, saying those responsible for target the shelter,” he said. “a handful of obsolete air-
Libyan coast guard, which calling for their immediate the “horrific crime” should The EU urged Libyan au- craft” in poor condition. He
is funded and trained by evacuation. be held to account. thorities to better protect said it has received spare
the EU to stem the flow of Amnesty International said The Tripoli-based Govern- migrants, with its top dip- parts and decommissioned
migrants. its research indicated a ment of National Accord, lomat and two top policy aircraft from Egypt and
Hifter’s forces said they weapons storage ware- which is backed by the commissioners deploring possibly Russia.
were targeting a nearby house was in the same U.N., called for an investi- the “shocking and tragic “Egypt and the UAE have
military site, not the deten- compound as the deten- gation by the world body. attack” and saying it high- been conducting air oper-
tion center. There also were tion center. Libya became a major lights “the dire and vulner- ations on behalf of the LNA,
suspicions of involvement Charlie Yaxley, a spokes- crossing point for migrants able situation of migrants but there are no indications
by foreign countries allied man for the U.N. refugee to Europe after the over- caught up in the spiral of that the UAE transferred air-
with his forces. Countries as- agency, said the detention throw and death of long- violence in the country.” craft to the LNA,” he said.
sisting Hifter include Egypt, center’s proximity to the time dictator Moammar Many more migrants “are The fighting for Tripoli has
the United Arab Emirates weapons depot “made it a Gadhafi in 2011, when the at risk and should be trans- threatened to plunge Libya
and Russia. target for the airstrikes.” North African nation was ferred to safe places swift- into another bout of vio-
The airstrike in Tripoli’s Ta- “Coordinates of this de- thrown into chaos, armed ly,” the EU said. lence on the scale of the
joura neighborhood hit a tention center were well- militias proliferated and Although the attack could conflict that ousted Gad-
workshop housing weap- known to both sides of the central authority collapsed. increase greater Western hafi.
ons and vehicles, as well conflict,” Yaxley said. “It At least 6,000 migrants from pressure on Hifter, Clau- Hifter’s campaign against
as the detention center, an was known that there were Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, dia Gazzini, a Libya expert Islamic militants across
adjacent hangar housing 600 people living inside. So Sudan and other nations at the International Crisis Libya since 2014 won him
about 150 migrants, mostly there can be no excuse are locked in dozens of Group, said it was highly un- growing support from world
Sudanese and Moroccans, for this center having been detention facilities in Libya likely to change the course leaders concerned that
according to two migrants hit.” He said the agency run by militias accused of the fighting in and around Libya has become a haven
who spoke to The Associ- had warned less than two torture and other abuses. Tripoli. for armed groups and a
ated Press on condition of months ago that anyone in The detention centers have “For both Hifter-led forces major conduit for migrants.
anonymity for fear of repri- the detention center could limited food and other sup- and those loyal to the Tripo- But critics view him as an
sal. Online video purport- be caught in the fighting plies for the migrants, who li-based government, this is aspiring autocrat and fear
ed to be from inside the around the capital and an often end up there after an existential war that sees a return to one-man rule.
detention center showed earlier airstrike nearby had arduous journeys at the little room for compromise,” Prominent Libyan writer
blood and human remains wounded two migrants. mercy of abusive traffickers she said. Mahmoud Shammam de-
mixed with rubble and the The UNHCR is sending med- who hold them for ransom She did not expect any ac- scribed the situation as
belongings of the victims. ical teams to the site, he from families back home. tions other than a “verbal “disastrous” and said Lib-
The U.N. gave an initial fig- added. The U.N. refugee agency condemnation” of Hifter’s ya was headed for more
ure of 44 dead and more U.N. human rights chief Mi- has said that more than forces if it is proven they “chaotic and hideous es-
than 130 wounded. But the chelle Bachelet said the at- 3,000 migrants are in dan- were behind the airstrike. calation” unless the inter-
two migrants told the AP tack “may, depending on ger because they are held Hifter, who receives sup- national community takes
that three or four escaped the precise circumstances, in detention centers near port from Egypt, the UAE strong action to stop the
harm and about 20 were amount to a war crime.” the front lines. and Saudi Arabia, says he fighting.q