PAINFUL: SEEKING GREENER PASTURES IN EUROPE!
50 Nigerians, 790 African Migrants Perish in Mediterranean Sea…Tunisian’s Ship Captain charged with ‘Multiple Manslaughter’
* Exposed: Libya’s traffickers Rapes Teenage Girls, Fear of pregnancy grip survivors
* Libya, Africa’s Most Dangerous Haven for Human Traffickers
* Only 28 people Survived Disaster off Libya Coast
* Syrian Crew Member Faces Prosecution over ‘Illegal Immigration’
* Three other people died on Creek island of Rhodes in Stormy Europe’s Seas
* “We’ll Destroy and Capture Human Traffickers’ boats to solve crisis”–European Union (EU)
* “It’s a very Dark for Europe”-David Cameroon, British Prime Minister
*Survivor narrates Ordeal: “Suffering in Nigeria is too much. That is why we look for money anyhow to pay traffickers in Libya to move us to Europe”–Pious Chinedu
BY ROTIMI ADEWOLA, REPORTING FROM SICILY
LAST seems not yet heard on the tragedy that led to the death of over 800 African migrants in Mediterranean Sea, seeking better lives in Europe with only 28 of them alive to recount their ordeals, after they were arrested recently as they stepped their foot on Sicilian soil recently.
Their dream of living a ‘better lives’ in Europe was facilitated by Libyan’s human traffickers, whose illegal source of livelihood is ‘human cargo’ by ship into Europe mostly under the cover of darkness. Not only did these traffickers collect various huge sums of money from these embattled African migrants, but most often sexually abuse the ladies among them; when these ladies refused, they are allegedly isolated, bruised and raped.
Libya- a Satanic destination for a larger percentage of human traffickers, after the war, is daily becoming more notorious in crimes against humanity.
Tunisian’s Ship Captain charged with ‘Multiple Manslaughter’
Naija Standard investigation showed that on the boat’s Tunisian captain and a Syrian crew member, who were arrested immediately the boat in Sicily. Both were questioned on the long journey from Libya to Sicily before taken into custody and charged with ‘favoring illegal immigration’. The captain was additionally charged with ‘multiple manslaughter’.
So far, twenty-six others stepped off the Italian coast-guard’s ship to applause and shouts of ‘welcome’, their faces heavy with the horror of what had got them there as the crowd waved flowers for the dead.
Earlier survivors told of how women and children died ‘like rats in a cage’ after being locked into the boat’s hold by callous traffickers in Libya. Some resorted to clinging to their floating corpses until Italian and Maltese coastguards came to rescue them in the dead of the night.
Exposed: Libya’s traffickers Rapes Teenage Girls 16-17 years old
Naija Standard gathered that before the ship left Libya’s sea, unaccompanied girls from Somalia, Ghana, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco, Bangladesh in their early teens (16 to 17 years old) were cohesively made to undergo sexual abuse under the wicked Libyan human traffickers for several days non-stop, even when their shrill cries rent the hiding camp of these evil human smugglers.
With many of them holding knives, guns, with several threats on lives of these girls in the camp, they had kept quiet, even against their will, as they were raped one after the other by the Libyan smugglers, after their money called ‘crossing fees’ had been collected from them-leaving them with no money in the long run. In the course of that, some of the girls may be pregnant or infected with HIV/AIDS disease.
As earlier explained, the moment the survivors of the capsized boat arrived in Catania, authorities revealed two of the group had been arrested and charged over the deaths of its hundreds of dead passengers. They were identified by other survivors including a Bangladeshi man who had earlier been airlifted to hospital.
Prosecutor Giovanni Salvi said of the men: ‘They will be charged with multiple manslaughter, ship wreck and human trafficking.’
Meanwhile Italian minister Graziano Delrio, who greeted the other survivors off the ship, warned: ‘Italy has given a strong signal to human traffickers.’
“It’s a very Dark for Europe”-David Cameroon, British Prime Minister
For David Cameron, British Prime Minister, he called the events ‘a very dark day for Europe’, adding: ‘We should put the blame squarely with the criminal human traffickers who are the ones managing, promoting and selling this trade in human life. We must use all the resources we have including Britain’s aid budget, which can play a role in trying to stabilize countries and trying to stop people from trafficking.”
With less than two weeks before the UK’s General Election the Prime Minister will take a break from the campaign trail to attend Thursday’s summit.
His views were earlier echoed by the Home Secretary, Theresa May, who said: ‘We came together today urgently to look at what Europe’s response should be to the tragic events’
While other leaders focused blame on smugglers human rights activists said the responsibility lay with governments who should allow more people into their countries.
Kate Allen of Amnesty said the death toll was ‘the equivalent of five passenger planes full of people drowning in the last week alone.’
Her words: ‘If they had been holidaymakers, instead of migrants, imagine the response. The floating bodies of these desperate fathers, mothers and children are Europe’s shame.’
Truly, the toll has refocused attention on demands for a more co-ordinated European response to what Italian premier Matteo Renzi said had become ‘a plague in our continent’ and the new ‘slave trade’.
Two other distress calls were made off the coast of Libya with one passenger reportedly claiming 20 people had died on board a boat of 150. Another vessel, carrying 300, was also said to have been in trouble.
An emergency summit has been called to take place on Thursday, with David Cameron among those scheduled to attend. There, experts will present a 10 point plan to persecute the culprits.
A proposal to double spending on sea patrol off Europe’s south border will also be heard with the entire strategy based on its anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia.
Survivor narrates Ordeal: “Suffering in Nigeria is too much. That is why we look for money anyhow to pay traffickers in Libya to move us to Europe”–Pious Chinedu
Speaking with Naija Standard, Pious, one of the survivors corroborated this story by saying “There are many Nigerians here and other African nationalities. We all just want to go to Europe and look out for better lives for ourselves. I can tell you that the poverty, suffering and economic hardship in Africa is too much”.
#It is our hope that this summit will come out with a resolution and contingency plan to resolve this human traffic debacle arising from Libya-MANAGEMENT
*Additional reports from Daily Mail
