Tripoli - Libya's UN-backed government
said on Thursday it was investigating reports of African
migrants being sold as slaves and promised to bring the
perpetrators to justice.
Footage broadcast by CNN appearing to show African migrants
being traded in Libya sparked an international outcry and
protests in Europe and Africa.
"There have been direct instructions issued to form an
investigative committee so as to uncover the truth and to
capture the wrongdoers, and those responsible, and put them
before the judiciary," Libyan Interior Minister Aref al-Khodja
told journalists in Tripoli.
"We are now currently waiting for the results of the
investigations which I believe are coming to a close."
The CNN video showed what it said was an auction of men
offered to Libyan buyers as farmhands and sold for $400,
appearing to confirm earlier reports of the existence of markets
for trading migrants in Libya.
Many Libyans reacted with anger to the outcry, with some
pointing to a European push to stop migrants from crossing the
Mediterranean to Italy that activists say has resulted in a
worsening of conditions for migrants inside Libya.
"We call on local and international bodies to cooperate with
the Attorney General's Office and provide any information that
helps to reveal the truth," the U.N.-backed government's
presidency said in a statement.
"We, in Libya, are victims of illegal migration and we are
not a source for it," it added, appealing to foreign powers to
help stop flows from migrants' countries of origin and across
Libya's southern borders.
The UN Libya mission said on Wednesday it was "actively
pursuing the matter with the Libyan authorities to set up
transparent monitoring mechanism that safeguards migrants
against horrific human rights abuses".
Under pressure from Italy, the U.N.-backed government has
co-opted local groups and tried to bolster Libya's coastguard to
stem the record flows of migrants crossing the Mediterranean
since 2014.
Though sea arrivals to Italy are down almost a third this
year, this week was marked by a surge in rescues after several
days of bad weather, and one body was recovered, Italy's coast
guard and humanitarian groups said.
On Wednesday, 1,100 migrants were rescued from 11 boats, the
coast guard said, and more than 200 were picked up on Thursday.