8 Mar 2011 – Following media reports that African mercenaries were used to suppress demonstrations in Libya, and particularly since the Sudanese Government claimed that Darfuri rebels were involved in the violence, fears have been growing among Darfuris in the UK for family and friends in the country. An estimated 500,000 Sudanese live in Libya, a large percentage of which come from Darfur.

On Sunday 6 March, the Darfur Union organised a demonstration outside the Sudanese Embassy in London to protest about the consequences of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry’s statements for their compatriots in Libya.

 

Darfur Union protest re danger for Darfuris in Libya from Aegis Trust on Vimeo.

“I managed to speak to many Darfurians in Libya and they told me since this conflict began they are kept in their own houses, they can’t go outside, because they are intimidated by the Libyan people, especially after that statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sudan,” said Hussein Bidean, Chairman of the Darfur Union. Bidean was referring to comments made by Sudan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Khalid Musa to Reuters on 23 February, in which Musa claimed the ministry had proof that Darfuri rebels were involved in the violence in Libya but declined to give details.

“We spoke to a doctor in Benghazi and he said at least 71 people, black Sudanese and Darfuris, have been killed in Kufra,” said Abdulaziz Mursa, one of the demonstrators. “I said, ‘how certain are you? Give me a percentage’. He said, ‘I will give you a percentage of three hundred percent’. The international community has to put more pressure on the Libyan revolutionaries to not harm these people, because they do not have anything to do with the mercenaries.”

Many of the demonstrators had lost contact with family members in Libya. Those who remained in contact said their relatives were sheltering indoors, unable, in many cases, even to go to the shops for food for fear of being attacked in the street. Several people stated that they knew relatives had recently been killed.

“I spoke to them this morning. My cousin, Faisal, has been killed and

[his body] is still in the hospital. Our people have not been able to recover his body due to the security situation,” said Kemal Kambal, a representative of the SPLM in the UK. “He was targeted because he was dark, believed to be from Darfur. The fact is, he was from the Nuba Mountains and fled Sudan to protect himself in Libya. People were suspecting he was one of the people who came to support Gaddafi from Africa.”

“Right now, they need international help,” says Bidean. “They need the United Nations to protect them.”

“The Aegis Trust is deeply concerned about the plight of Darfuris and black Africans in Libya,” says Chief Executive Dr James Smith. “Because they are being wrongly associated with mercenaries serving the Libyan regime, this vulnerable minority is threatened by the fear and anger of the rebels and ordinary Libyans, putting their lives in serious danger. We urge the international community and all those who support human rights in Libya to do everything possible to help protect these people.”