Libyan authorities have discovered nearly 50 bodies in two common pits in recent days in the state of North Africa, officials said officials on Sunday.
This disaster discovery is only the latest tragedy concerning people looking to join Europe via this North African country prey to chaos.
The first common pit containing 19 bodies was discovered on Friday in a farm in the city of Kufra in the south-east of the country, the security department said in a statement, adding that the authorities had taken them for autopsy.
Alwahat’s security department has published images on its Facebook page showing police officers and doctors digging in the sand and recovering corpses wrapped in blankets. An NGO, migrant Rescue Watch, then published these images on X:
The charitable organization Al-Abreen, which helps migrants in the east and southern Libya, said that some had apparently been shot before being buried in the common pit.
Another common pit containing at least 30 bodies was also discovered in Kufra after a descent into a traffic center of human beings, according to Mohamed al-Fadeil, head of the Kufra security chamber. Survivors said nearly 70 people had been buried in the pit, he added. The authorities continue to search the area.
Migrant mass graves are not uncommon in Libya. Last year, the authorities unearthed the bodies of at least 65 migrants in the Shuayrif region, 350 kilometers south of the capital, Tripoli.
Transit point to reach Europe
Libya is the main transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East who are trying to win Europe. The country plunged in chaos following an uprising supported by NATO which overthrew and killed the longtime dictator Moammar Gaddafi in 2011. Libya, rich in oil, was directed during most of the The last decade by rival governments of the East and the West of the country, each supported by a set of foreign militias and governments.
Human traffickers took advantage of more than a decade of instability to convey migrants to pass across the country’s borders with six countries, including Chad, Niger, Sudan, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia.
Once arrived on the coast, traffickers pile up desperate migrants looking for a better life in Europe in poorly equipped pneumatic canoes and other boats for risky trips on the perilous road to the central Mediterranean.
For years, human rights groups and United Nations agencies have reported systematic abuse against migrants in Libya, including forced work, tobacco, rape and torture. These ill -treatment often go hand in hand with the efforts made to extort money from families before migrants were allowed to leave Libya on traffickers’ boats.
Those who have been intercepted and returned to Libya – including women and children – are detained in detention centers managed by the government where they also undergo abuse, including torture, rape and extortion, according to groups of Defense of UN rights and experts.
