Speaking to several sources in five Tripoli detention centers, the Telegraph revealed that hundreds of illegal migrants have been forced to fight with different factions in the ongoing fighting in the Libyan capital.
Hundreds of migrants and refugees are locked up with only one meal a day in several detention centers in Libya, the report added.
“They took us from jail, then they ordered us (to wear) uniforms,” one of the migrants told the Telegraph.
He was just one of scores of refugees and migrants taken from detention centers and forced to assist militants aligned with the U.N.-backed Tripoli government, according to the report.
The EU has been widely criticized by human rights organizations and activists for bringing migrants found in the Mediterranean back to shelters in Libya.
The Telegraph report says that fighters were sent to detention centers in a hurry to search for healthy and strong migrants, who were recruited and pushed to the battle’s front lines, some of them are transporting weapons and ammunition, and others are taking part in direct combat.
The Libyan National Army, galvanized by victories in its eastern stronghold and in the country’s desert south, announced an offensive early this month to seize the capital from the U.N.-recognized administration.
The bloodshed has derailed efforts to bring peace to a country where jihadists and people smugglers have exploited the chaos unleashed by the overthrow of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
