The chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has praised the government of Rwanda for offering to take in about 30,000 African migrants stranded in Libya.
Kigali says it is also prepared to cover the transport costs for any of those migrants who wish to return to their countries of origin.
Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo says even though Rwanda is a small nation, it would find space for the refugees. She’s added that Kigali will not remain silent when people are being mistreated and auctioned off like animals.
Rwanda’s offer comes in the wake of a report by CNN that’s sent shockwaves through sub-Saharan Africa.
CNN broadcast footage of what it said was the auction of men to Libyan buyers as farm workers. Many young men who fail in their attempt to reach Europe via Libya are forced into trafficking networks or sold into slavery.
“Rwanda, like the rest of the world, was horrified by the images of the tragedy currently unfolding in Libya, where African men, women and children who were on the road to exile, have been held and turned into slaves,” the foreign ministry statement said.
Mahamat has appealed to other African governments to follow Rwanda’s lead.
Last week, the AU expressed outrage after the footage of the slaves auction emerged.
Youths from Niger and other sub-Saharan countries were seen being sold to buyers for about US$400 at undisclosed locations in Libya.
In April, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it had gathered evidence of slavery in Libya.
Smugglers hold migrants for ransom and if their families could not pay, they were sold off at different prices depending on their qualifications, BBC reports an IOM official in Libya to have said.
