Mediaboss Marketing

A decade since the Arab Spring swept across North Africa and the Middle East, Libya remains torn between opposing factions battlingto fill the power vacuum left by fallen dictator MuammarGaddafi. Paris Perspective looks at how Libya has become a hub for human trafficking,engulfed by lawlessness and impunity, and how France helped to make it that way.

Two rival governments now control thefaction-riven battleground that isLibya. There's theinternationally recognised administration in Tripoli, in the west, and the oil-rich parallel administrationcontrolledby rebel General Khalifa Haftar, in the east.

Positioned at the crossroads between Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, Libyalacksany fundamental state structure. Thus, it's become a breeding ground fortrafficking vulnerable migrants risking their lives in the hope of crossing the Mediterranean to start a new life in the EU.

French anthropologist andwriter Jrme Tubiana recently travelled to atown recognised as the people-smuggling capital of Libya. An authority on the Sahel, Tubianatransformed his encounters with an enigmatic doctor, who runs a safe-house for migrants, into a graphic novel: The Curse of You-Know-Where.

Meetthe 'doctor'

The doctoris a former English interpreter for Colonel Gaddafi who, according to Tubiana, was traumatised by the 2011 NATO military intervention in Libya. His hometown,a Gaddafi stronghold, was heavily bombed and remains a rare enclave of nostalgia for the ancienrgime.

Tubiana says the doctoris neither a hero nor a main character in the novel, but a guide. Hes actually been a real help to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), setting up a little clinic in a safe house ...He's really helping migrants who end up in this town.

Between 2018 and 2020, Tubiana visited the safe house four or five times, and gradually began extending his stays there as he was welcomed by the doctor.

Why Transform The Story Of Migrants In Libya Into A Graphic Novel?

The residents of the town, whichremains unnamed, have a mixed sense of pride and shame. They are proud that some Libyans are helping migrants there which is not that common but they are also tetchily aware of their reputation as Libya's migrant traffickingcapital.

The termtrafficking is very loaded in Libya. It's a generic word for a very widespread phenomenon," explains Tubiana."Migrants arecommonly captured and held prisoner for months, in very difficult situations, in crowded places. There they are tortured for ransoms that are supposed to be sent by their families.

And so, the locals bow their heads in shame. They dont want the name of their town to be revealed. In Libya there is a collective omerta, or code of silence, regarding migrant torture.

The migrant 'safe house'

Some 4,000 migrantsare thought to have crossed the threshold of this one safe house, which can host up to 80 people at a time. Thesmall comforts foundwithin its walls are rudimentary, at best.

They have food, clothes, places to sleep and some level of protectionbut that protection isnt perfect, says Tubiana.

There is a guard with a gun, but the protection isnt the gun it'sthe place is run by that Libyan doctor and somehow its protected by social cohesion. But that has its limits.

Just aday after Tubiana leftthe town, a series of shootings targeting a migrant couplewere reported. They involved a woman who had been forced into prostitutionby a smuggling gang that wasnow attempting to recapture her.

Events such as this highlight the sense of isolation and helplessness that is endemic among migrants crossing the desert to the sea. Nobody is coming to help, says Tubiana. The UN in Libya are not doing their work. They're not efficient at evacuating people,even people who are threatened.

The execution of a Sierra Leonean man by traffickers wanting to set an example to others is a stark reminder of what migrants are forced to endure.

MSF hasrecordedtestimonies ofexploited migrants who say such killings are regular practice among the ringleaders of trafficking networks. People are also killed if they can't pay their captors, butthis isn't always the case.

Atthe safe house, people are free to leave when they want to; its not a prison," says Tubiana, adding the doctor alsohelpsmigrants by using a local radio station to send messages to the traffickers telling them: "We know who you are, we know what you're doing. Please don't kill them."

The doctorencourages traffickers to send migrants who cannotpay for their lives to the safe house. Some have been dropped off in appalling condition. Dehydrated, skeletal, broken. And some die.

France won the battle but lost the peace

Following the ongoing accounts of abuse, racketeering, forced prostitution and slavery how has Europespecifically France dealt with the situation in Libya?

Back in 2011, France positioned itself at the diplomatic forefront of the Arab Spring, becomingthe first country to recognise the National Transitional Council. It also co-led the NATO mission to protect Libyan civilians.

The town where the novel takes place, like some other communities, remembers Gaddafi era with great nostalgia. But thats not a common feeling across most of Libya.

NATO brought a great deal of freedom, unprecedented freedom, explainsTubiana. But now people are disappointed by the state of the economy, the militia presence andthe corruption, as well as a lot of other problems.

Why French diplomacy failed in Libya

Once the air strikes ended, France failed tofollow throughon its promises which is notuncommon with western military interventions. Post-conflict, France didnt help secure Libyas future.

In 2017, when President Emmanuel Macron hosted Libya'stwo rival governments, the talks collapsed amid the absence of a coherent strategy to bring the warring parties together.

European quarrelling

Libya has also suffered because European countries have been unable to agree a common approach to dealing with the waves of migrantsthat are launched on skiffs from the North African coast.

Diplomatic relations between France and Italy, in particular, have been at a low ebb in recent years, with conflicting strategies in dealing with migration exacerbatingcommunication problems between Paris and Rome.

To make matters worse, theEuropean neighbourswere almost engaged in a proxy war on the ground in Libya.

Has the Covid-19 pandemic been used as a barrier to help trapped or stranded migrants?

Clearly France and Italy were on opposite sides of the fighting, especially during the toughest battles. Italy wassupporting the Government of National Accord and France [supporting] Haftar, says Tubiana, but with a caveat.

People wondered how much this rivalry was actually real, or staged. In other parts of the region, where European anti-migrant policy and oil interests were at stake, relations were not so bad."

The tug of war between France and Italy was only part of the problem, Tubiana adds. An "international incurrence" on Libya efforts by other nations to exploit its position and resources has probably been thestrongest forceagainst peace.

And, asoutsiders increase their ambitions in a country that is 90 percent dependent on oil,Libya's future will remainvery uncertain.

Watch full video here

This edition was produced andpresented by David Coffey

Sound engineering by Ccile Pompeani

Vision mixing and editing by Vincent Pora

Libya, human trafficking and the French connection - Full Interview

Jrme Tubiana is anthropologist, journalist, writer & Sahel specialist who has worked with the Small Arms Survey and Doctors Without Borders andco-wrote the graphic novel The Curse of You-Know-Where and the short film "Des nouvelles de Yonas" for ARTE.

More:
Paris Perspective - Paris Perspective #6: Libya, human trafficking and the French connection - RFI