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By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 28 November 2017:
Presidency Council (PC) head Faiez Serraj and an accompanying delegation flew to the Ivory Coast capital of Abidjan this afternoon to attend the triennial African Union-European Union summit which gets underway tomorrow, Wednesday. He was met at the airport by Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara
Before arriving in the Ivorian capital, Serraj’s plane made a stopover in Niamey to discuss illegal migration, ways to secure the common border and the treatment of migrants in Libya with Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou. The two agreed that the issues had to be addressed.
The Nigerien embassy in Tripoli had, however, yesterday denied that any of the country’s citizens had been sold off for slave labour in Libya. “Those allegations are malicious and incorrect”, it said, adding that it had not been informed of any Nigeriens being sold.
It added that there were just eight thousand in the country and that they were all well treated. There were 211 Nigeriens in jail , of which 67 had been found guilty of criminal offences and the rest had been detailed because they did not have the requisite papers.
These, though, are presumably those whom the embassy knows about; illegal immigrants tend not to inform the authorities or their embassies of their presence.
The allegations of sub-Saharan Africans being auctioned in Libya, the issue of smuggling through the country and the treatment of migrants as a whole are expected to be major issues in the tomorrow’s summit. Just last Saturday, Ivorian President Ouattara said that anyone involved in slave trading in Libya should be sent to the International Criminal Court.
The issues are also expected to top the agenda in the private meetings Serraj is to have with many of leaders at the summit.
