The Libyan embassy in Kenya has distanced the Libyan government and its people from the allegations of slavery in the country. [PHOTO/Standard]
The Libyan embassy in Kenya has distanced the Libyan government and its people from the allegations of slavery in the country.
The embassy's Chargé d' Affaires Mabruk Daia said the unfair blames by the international community should stop since slavery is an international problem.
Daia said that organised transnational criminal gangs have moved in to take advantage of political instability and insecurity in Libya and its vast and porous borders to conduct human trafficking and illegal immigration business.
"The Libyan people and government stand firmly against such inhuman practices which are incompatible with our values and laws.Any practices recorded against migrants are nothing more than individual practices by criminals," he said quoting statements from the country's Foreign and Justice Ministries.
"Despite Libya's political, economic and security conditions, it bears the brunt of rescuing migrants in its territorial waters, sheltering them, providing health care and essential needs, and deporting them at its own expense with very limited support from the international community," he said.
This comes barely a week after media reports in Kenya suggested that a number of Kenyan migrants in the North African country could be victims already sold as slaves in the country.