Somali President orders immediate repatriation of stranded citizens in Libya

President Mohamed Farmaajo has directed the foreign affairs minister Yusuf Garad to immediately facilitate the repatriation of Somali migrants stranded in Libya following a shocking report that migrants were being subjected to slavery and even auctioned in the northern Africa country.

A statement from the foreign affairs ministry Friday noted Garad had tasked Somalia’s ambassador to the EU Dr Ali Faqi to submit a report in two weeks with directions on how the repatriation will be effected.

“Since the president has given an emergency order to take every legal step to repatriate the Somalis to their homeland,” the statement read,  “The minister is ordering the ambassador to prepare a confirmed report within two weeks regarding the Somalis in Libya and also recommendations on the way forward for Somalia.”

The ambassador is expected to brief the government on the scale of the problems Somalis in Libya are facing, the minister said.

Somalia’s ambassador to the African Union in Adds Ababa Mohamed Haji will lead a diplomatic delegation that was appointed by the AU to visit Libya to assess the situation of the African people stranded in that country, the ministry said.

Images emerged in the past weeks showing African migrants subjected to torture in Libya and CNN report mid last month showed human smuggler in auction centres outside the capital Tripoli conducting sale of migrants each going for between $400 and $800.