Decay of Libyan state clears desert trail for Africans to Europe
Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:51am GMT
By Ulf Laessing
GHAT Libya (Reuters) - Abdulkabir and five of his friends, all from Niger,
walked for hours over rocky hills and sandy paths to cross into southern
Libya, without meeting a single border guard. Safely over the border, they
now feel no need to hide.
Libya's southwestern tip in the Sahara bordering Algeria and Niger has
become an open door for illegal migrants from sub-Saharan countries heading
for Europe, with the chaotic government in Tripoli appearing to have
abandoned all control.
The revolt that overthrew Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi three years ago
emptied Libya's arsenals, flooded the region with guns and dismantled much
of the state apparatus, giving well-organised smuggler networks the run of
the frontier.
"We crossed by foot. There was no army or police," said Abdulkabir, waiting
with his friends for a smuggler to bring them to Ghat, the first town in
Libya. They camped near an unpaved road that leads straight to the nearby
Libyan passport control post, but no patrol disturbed them.
According to the Italian coast guard, at least 50,000 people have crossed
from North Africa to Italy by boat so far this year, already far exceeding
the 40,000 who arrived in the whole of 2013. Most came over land from
Sub-Saharan Africa, via Libya.
It has been always a challenge to seal Libya's more than 2,000 km long
southern border, but since Gaddafi's fall it appears few are even trying.
Tripoli, some 1,300 km to the north, has reduced funding to border troops as
it grapples with a budget crisis due to protests that shut down oil exports.
"The border is open day and night. Anyone who wants can cross it. There is
no control," said Mohamed Abdel-Qadir, head of Ghat's town council. "Most
(smugglers) are armed people, some of them drug dealers, some trade in
weapons, goods and illegal migrants."
Border officials say up to 200 Africans cross the Ghat border strip every
day, most headed north to the Mediterranean coast for the onward trip to
Europe by boat.
In Ghat, a detention centre has been built to house migrants caught trying
to cross the frontier. But these days it stands empty and derelict: the
local authorities say they are being given no money to run it.
Instead, African migrants walk around the town unchallenged. They live in
empty houses and queue every morning on the main street seeking jobs. Police
cars drive by without stopping.
"I came here to look for a job because there is nothing in Niger," said a
man from northern Niger who gave his name as Mussa. He left behind his wife
and three children.
The human traffickers also don't bother to hide much. "Which police or army
are you talking about?" said a smuggler after putting six migrants from
Niger on his Toyota pickup.
"I don't have a job so I have to make a living," said the smuggler, one of
the Tuareg nomads who dominate the region. He agreed to be filmed but asked
not to be named.
Operating as part of a network, he drives the Nigeriens to Obari, some 250
km away, where a colleague takes them to Sabha, the next town as they head
north toward the Mediterranean coast.
He is not worried about bumping into a patrol: "I have friends in the police
and army," he said.
"THE BORDER IS OPEN"
Not only do smugglers guide migrants north into Libya, they also ship goods
such and petrol and wheat south into sub-Saharan Africa or west into
Algeria, profiting off the lavish state subsidies that keep such goods cheap
in Libya.
Weapons are also shipped south, and Western diplomats worry southern Libya
is becoming a haven or transit point for fighters heading in all directions,
towards conflict zones in Egypt, Syria, Sudan or Mali.
When asked whether militant fighters were crossing the border, the Tuareg
smuggler said: "Look, the border is open. You can do what you want.
Smugglers, drug dealers, al Qaeda, anyone who wants can come. There is no
police."
Algeria has closed the land border to Libya and tightened controls, but an
Algerian official said it was difficult to coordinate with the Libyan side.
On the eastern border, Egypt has limited road traffic to Libya.
Libya's army and police, still in training, are no match for the armed
smugglers. An Interior Ministry force to combat illegal migration has around
150 men covering a stretch of border 600 km (400 miles) long, according to
officers.
"I've thought about resigning because we can't do the job properly," said a
senior officer while walking on a paved road used by Libyan and Algerian
forces at the joint border.
"This is a main trail for illegal migrants," he said, pointing to a rocky
path littered with shoes and water bottles left behind by border crossers.
His force, supported by army posts spaced every few dozen km (miles) along
the border, relies on decade-old Kalashnikovs and has only a few satellite
phones to coordinate action. If Europe is worried about the migrants, it
should do more to help equip and train the guards, he said.
"The European Union always talks about training and support for us, but they
just talk, talk, talk," said the officer, asking not to be identified for
fear of reprisals.
One army soldier, based in a camp perched between sand dunes, said he had
attended a training course in Turkey where he learned how to use a satellite
monitoring system - which Libya doesn't have. Tripoli has signed a deal with
an Italian firm to install such a system but town mayor Abdel-Qadir said
nothing has happened so far in the Ghat region.
He said Libya's government had imported Land Cruisers badly needed to
monitor unpaved desert border paths, but officials kept them in Tripoli for
their own use.
"We've asked for help from the United Nations, international groups in
Libya," he said. "But there is no international, not even local support.
Nothing has materialised on the ground."