FOR MONTHS, the word mortazaga, Arabic for mercenaries, has struck fear into the hearts of people across Libya. Lurid stories concerning the behaviour of foreign guns for hire enlisted by Muammar Gadafy swept the country. There were tales of alleged killings, rapes and pillaging, though human-rights organisations have cautioned that the scale appears to have been exaggerated.
For the legions of sub-Saharan African migrant workers living in Libya, however, it was the possibility of being mistaken for one of Gadafy’s mercenaries that made them fearful. Many fled to neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia. But hundreds remained.
In eastern Libya earlier this year, I visited several facilities where suspected mercenaries were held. The men came from countries including Chad, Niger, Mali and Sudan. Some said they were innocent labourers who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time; others claimed they had been tricked into fighting for Gadafy.
In Baida, where a number of alleged mercenaries were said to have been hanged in front of the courthouse just after the town fell to the rebels, I saw graffiti which referred to abeed, the Arabic word for slaves, which can be used as a derogatory term for black people.
In the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, I saw fighters bring a pick-up truck full of black men, their hands bound, to the seafront opposition headquarters one night. A hostile crowd milled around before they were driven off to a detention centre.
Suspicion and resentment of black Africans is common across Libya. Racism only partly explains it. Many here have long resented Gadafy lavishing money on predominantly black regions in the south to buy their loyalty, or paying more attention to vanity projects across Africa than he did to rundown corners of Libya, especially those with a history of opposing him.
“He cared more about the rest of Africa than he did about us,” was a typical gripe I heard in Benghazi. Many claimed the man who once declared himself “King of Kings of Africa” had granted citizenship to people from neighbouring states, including Niger and Chad, to bolster his support base, including his own historically insignificant tribe.
Human-rights organisations including Amnesty International and the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, have raised concerns over reports that people are being targeted in rebel-held areas, including Tripoli, because of their colour.
Amnesty’s Diana El Tahawy has accused the National Transitional Council (NTC), Libya’s interim government, of “wildly exaggerating” the issue of foreign mercenaries. “They have made matters worse. They have ignited public anger by tapping into an existing xenophobia with very dire consequences for many guest workers.”
In the Sabha district of eastern Tripoli, Marou Yahya and some 30 other men from Niger have huddled in a spartan compound for the past 10 days, hearing the sound of gunfire echo through the city as rebels routed Gadafy’s forces. The men work as day labourers, gardeners and brick workers.
“We are afraid to move beyond this area because people might think we are mercenaries,” he says. “We want to stay in Libya. We just want peace and calm so we can go back to work.”
Asked his opinion of Gadafy, Marou pauses before replying: “We just want peace.”
Another man, Said Ali Mohammed, who walked across the Sahara to seek a new life in Libya almost 20 years ago, is more forthcoming. “I like Gadafy, well I don’t hate him, though this is not the time to say this. He was good to us because he allowed us to come here to work.”
UNHCR said it had spoken by phone to Ahmed, a Somali who works as a university lecturer in Tripoli, who wanted to leave. “If they see you are African, that you are black, they will target you,” he told the agency. “Anyone who is black, they say they are against them.”
It is not so clear-cut. I have seen several black Libyans within the rebels’ ranks, whether fighting on the frontline in the east earlier this year, or helping secure Tripoli over the past week. I have also seen black people out shopping as markets and businesses began to open in recent days.
The African Union, which long benefited from Gadafy’s largesse and has so far refused to recognise the NTC as Libya’s interim government, says one reason it has not recognised it is reports that black Africans have been killed by rebels on suspicion of acting as mercenaries. “Maybe it’s looters, uncontrolled forces. But then the government should say something, condemn this,” a spokesman said.
The UN high commissioner for refugees, António Guterres, has urged restraint from rebel forces and Libyan civilians who may be considering vigilante-type retribution against suspected mercenaries.
“We have seen at earlier stages in this crisis that such people, Africans especially, can be particularly vulnerable to hostility or acts of vengeance,” he said. “It is crucial that humanitarian law prevails through these climactic moments and that foreigners – including refugees and migrant workers – are being fully and properly protected from harm.”