The suffering of illegal immigrants and refugees stranded in Libya has doubled dramatically since the start of fighting in Tripoli in last April as they were directly affected by it.
One of the immigrants recounts for the first time some of the horrific details of the incident. His name is Munarak Ahmed Yusef and is from Sudan.
Mubarak told Asharq Al-Awsat that hundreds of immigrants were forced by the armed groups to take up arms and fight in the Tripoli clashes and others were seduced for it by money.
The 18-year-old said he entered Libya illegally hoping to cross ti European shores. He worked in Zuwara to save money for “the deadly journey” before he was told by another Sudanese immigrant about the offers of the armed groups in Tripoli.
“I agreed to fight for the armed groups for money and I went to Baer Al-Ghanam area with another Sudanese immigrant. We met with gunmen who gave us weapons and money as well as five armored vehicles. They placed us in a position in the area and asked us to attack the Libyan National Army forces.” Mubarak recounts.
He added that the immigrants who use light weapons are paid 2000 Libyan dinars every 15 days, while those who use heavy weapons get 4000 dinars.
Mubarak indicated that they kept doing this for two weeks before the Libyan National Army had struck the positions of armed groups and five Sudanese nationals were killed along with two Libyans.
“The armed groups buried the Sudanese in a big pit and took the two Libyan bodies and went to unknown locations.” He explained.
This story of Mubarak is not the first or the last, which puts us at a position where calls for ending extortion of illegal immigrants in Libya must be made louder.
