Govt evacuates Nigerians from Libya

The Federal Government has started evacuating Nigerians stranded in Tripoli. The first batch of evacuees, about 499 Nigerians, arrived in Abuja yesterday around 1.30 am.

Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Muhammad Sani-Sidi said the government has set up a camp to accommodate the returnees, until the necessary documentation and screening are completed.

Sani-Sidi said the screening is necessary to identify passengers without valid travelling documents and those with bad records.

Foreign Affairs Minister Odein Ajumogobia, who was represented by Timloh Nkom, said all Nigerians in Libya would be brought home safely.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the African Union (AU) to stop the ongoing abuse of human rights in Libya.

In an open letter to AU Chairman President Obiang Mbasogo, the group’s lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, urged the union to exercise its right under Article 4 of the Constitutive Act and intervene.

The group is seeking the following:

•That the AU intervenes in Libya to stop the violence against the protesters.

•That the AU refers the situation in Libya to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and supports the initiatives at the United Nation (UN) Security Council in this respect.

•That the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights visits Libya to investigate allegations of rights abuses and refer the cases to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The letter reads: "Playing politics or remaining silent when the citizens of Libya are being murdered by their government will undermine the authority of the AU and its many institutions.

"It has committed itself to promoting peace and security in the continent and has a fundamental duty to assist people in danger. The old-fashioned theory of state sovereignty, used to fend off criticism of massacres, cannot stand under the terms of the AU Constitutive Act.

"Article 4 says the AU will intervene in respect of grave circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.’ Unless the AU acts now and stops the killing in Libya, its ability to prevent the kind of abuses cited above will be severely undermined."