Ahmed Sule: Stop the Genocide of the Black people residing in Libya

Ahmed Sule, CFA writes an open letter to Obama, Sarkozy and Cameron urging them to take urgent action to do something to stop the genocide of the Black population of Libya. Below is an extract of the letter.

Cc: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon- United Nations.

"Today leaders from twenty five countries will gather in Paris to attend a conference to discuss the future of Libya and deliberate on ways to support Libya's government-in-waiting i.e. the National Transitional Council (NTC). This International Conference of “the friends of Libya” is the brainchild of President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Cameron who are both co-hosting the event. A number of issues are likely to be discussed at the conference such as funding for the NTC, democratic elections, enforcing judgment against Gadaffi and his fellow human rights abusers and the stability of Libya. However, one important issue is likely to be ignored at the conference: the ongoing genocide committed by the Libyan rebels on the Black population of Libya.

Before I go further, I would like to declare my bona fides: I am a British national of African descent based in London. I am Black and proud. I consider myself to be a pacifist as I believe that violence should not be used to resolve disputes. Finally, I am not a Gadaffi apologist or loyalist.

The purpose of this open letter is to implore you to address, prevent and stop the ongoing human right abuses committed by the Libyan rebels whom you support. While there are some reports of the humanitarian crisis currently taking place in Libya, most sections of the global press and political establishment have either deliberately or accidentally failed to report or address the gradual extermination of the Black population by the rebels.

Of the seven million people that populate Libya, around two million are Black (of which about a million are migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa). Unfortunately, Libya has a track record of continuous racial discrimination against it’s Black population. As far back as 1998, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern about Libya’s racist attacks on Black migrant workers. In 2006, Human Rights Watch documented instances of human rights abuses against migrant workers. Since the beginning of the uprising against Gadaffi in February 2011, the Black residents of Libya have been at the receiving end of the conflict.

At the start of the rebellion, it was alleged that Colonel Gadaffi employed a number of mercenaries from some parts of Africa to repress the demonstrations that were taking place in Libya. It has also been reported that Gadaffi also used mercenaries from Algeria and some parts of Europe. However, a myth has been created since the rebels gained control, that Gadaffi mainly used Blacks mercenaries to repress the uprising. Unfortunately, some sections of the Western press have also helped spread this myth by reporting on the widespread use of Black mercenaries in Libya, in spite of the lack of evidence to support their reports. Despite the popularity of this myth in Libya, a number of human rights organization such as Amnesty International have examined the allegation and found little evidence to support it.

As Libya has previously had a low tolerance for it’s Black residents, this myth has now resulted in a campaign to lynch people of Black pigmentation residing in Libya. The rebels have played a large part in this attack against the Libyan Black residents. Some rebels even created a slogan describing the conflict as an attempt to purge Libya of slaves and Black people. We have seen on the television screens several instances of dead bodies of Black Africans left on the road. Injured Black people are being deprived access to medical care in a number of territories controlled by the rebels, while there have been many instances of the rebels kidnapping Black people from their homes and places of work. The rebels have also been uploading to the internet , images and videos of Black people being killed, while there have been reported instances of Black people taken to the desert and stabbed to death. There are also some isolated cases of suspected Black mercenaries hung from poles in Benghazi in a way not to dissimilar to the public lynching Blacks were subjected to during the Jim Crow era. With the ongoing attacks on the Black population, Libya has now become a fertile ground for applying the Final Solution concept, only this time it is no longer the Nazi’s trying to exterminate the Jews, but rather the Libyan rebels (supported by you) trying to exterminate Black people. Because of this genocide on Black people, the majority of the black residents live in fear. Yet while this genocide continues to take place, the world remains silent.

As leaders of the free world, one expects you to be at the vanguard of the fight for justice. However, what we observe is your silence as this genocide continues. When the three of you jointly wrote an op-ed about the need to act in Libya (published in the Times in April 2011), you stated that “We are convinced that better times lie ahead for the people of Libya”. Does this ‘better time for Libyans’ include the Black population who have seen their women raped, their sons hanged and their husbands stabbed? In justifying the need to act in Libya, you wrote, “the Arab League called for action. The Libyan opposition called for help. And the people of Libya looked to the world in their hour of need.” Well the Black Libyans are also calling for action; the Black immigrant workers are also calling for help and the maimed, bruised and battered Black people of Libya are looking to the world in their hour of need. Will you also hear their cries?

You also wrote in your op-ed that “Our duty and our mandate under UN Security Council Resolution 1973 is to protect civilians, and we are doing that.” Does this mandate come with the caveat that Black civilians are excluded and that the rebels are free to exterminate them?

My plea to you is to focus on the humanitarian crisis taking place in Libya. I also urge you to listen to what the human rights organizations are saying about the crime against humanity taking place in Libya instead of listening to the oil executives and defence chiefs who are more interested in extracting oil at a cheaper price and supplying arms in order to enforce stability. I urge you to see the Black people of Libya as human beings. I urge you not to ignore the crime against humanity committed by the NTC even as you address the human rights atrocities committed by Gadaffi. I urge you to view the life of a man, woman and child as being more important than a barrel of sweet crude oil or a reconstruction contract. I urge you to put pressure on the NTC to stop the killing. I urge you to stop the genocide."

Ahmed Sule, CFA

Picture: A suspected Black mercenary taken away by Libyan rebels