Libya in 2011: Sub-Saharan Workers Targeted After the Fall of Tripoli

In 2011, the fall of Tripoli and the gradual collapse of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule opened a period of profound uncertainty in Libya. As rebel forces took control of parts of the capital, some nationals from sub-Saharan Africa faced a particularly dangerous accusation: that they were mercenaries serving the former regime.

In a country that at the time had a very large number of foreign workers from sub-Saharan Africa, this association between skin colour, foreign origin and military support for Gaddafi exposed civilians to violence, arbitrary arrests, looting and daily fear. The conflict was therefore not only being fought on military fronts: it was also transforming the lives of migrants and Black families living in Libyan cities.

After the capture of Tripoli, suspicion targets Black Africans

In Tripoli, the emblematic sites of Gaddafi’s power, including his former Bab al-Azizia headquarters, were taken over by forces involved in the offensive against the regime. The war was not over, Gaddafi was still on the run, but the capital was already celebrating the end of more than four decades of dictatorship.

However, this liberation was accompanied by a desire to find those allegedly responsible for the repression and fighters who had remained loyal to Gaddafi. Rebels claimed that the regime had recruited mercenaries from neighbouring countries. They referred in particular to identity documents bearing names they considered non-Libyan.

But according to testimonies gathered at the time, this search for suspected fighters turned into very broad suspicion towards Black men. Workers, students, municipal employees and members of families long settled in Libya could thus be regarded as suspects without individual evidence.

The situation demonstrates the danger of collective targeting during wartime: presumed membership of a group takes the place of an investigation into the facts and individual responsibility.

A foreign population already established before the war

Since the early 2000s, Libya had attracted a substantial African workforce in a context of economic growth. The account refers to more than two million workers from sub-Saharan Africa who were present in the country before the conflict.

These people did not form a homogeneous group. Some worked in restaurants, public services or other urban sectors; others had settled with their families. In Tripoli, residents from sub-Saharan Africa said they hardly went out any longer, except for essential journeys or prayer, for fear of assault.

Testimonies describe insults equating Black people with Gaddafi, stone-throwing, night-time intrusions into homes and theft. A restaurant owner stated that his establishment had been shut down and looted. These accounts illustrate the increased vulnerability of Black foreigners in a city where armed groups carried out patrols and arrests.

The risk of being arrested without a clear distinction

Rebel brigades were then conducting operations in neighbourhoods considered favourable to Gaddafi. They were looking for weapons, supporters of the former regime and alleged mercenaries. In this context, several people questioned said they were simply workers and denied any role in the fighting.

A Beninese academic encountered on a public street was questioned by armed men about his origin and occupation. In this specific case, the rebels concluded that he was not a mercenary. Their assessment relied in particular on physical signs they presented as characteristic of a fighter, such as marks left by carrying a weapon.

This scene should not obscure the central problem: such informal criteria do not constitute a judicial procedure. Being Black, foreign, without a passport, or present in a targeted neighbourhood could be enough to put a person in danger. Malian prisoners said they had been arrested while returning from cleaning a police station. They said they had been held for several days and feared for their fate.

The head of a former intelligence service taken over by rebel forces said he was holding around one hundred prisoners, including several Africans. He maintained that local authorities would later have to determine their situation before a court of justice. Yet waiting in detention, during a period of institutional transition and fragmented armed control, left those arrested in profound insecurity.

The difficulties of a transition after the fall of a regime are also examined in this article on the mechanisms of coups d’état and the trap of instability: taking political control alone does not guarantee the immediate restoration of institutions capable of protecting all civilians.

Violence, extortion and sexual violence on the road into exile

Twenty-five kilometres west of Tripoli, in Porsayade, Black workers who escaped arrests or violence gathered in precarious conditions. The site was associated with clandestine departures to Europe before Gaddafi’s fall. After the change of power, smugglers had disappeared or fled, leaving many people without any solution.

Testimonies reported that armed groups extorted men and that women were exposed to sexual violence. A man injured in the stomach during a robbery was said to have survived thanks to the intervention of a passer-by. These elements describe a situation in which the absence of effective protection enabled abuses against a population that was already isolated.

Violence against civilians in conflicts cannot be reduced to mere inevitable disorder. It raises questions about the responsibility of de facto authorities, armed groups and institutions taking over from the state. Memories of wars and repression in Africa show how civilian populations are often the first to be affected, as also illustrated by the history of UPC repression and the Cameroon War.

Calls to protect foreign workers

In response to abuses reported against the Black population, the United Nations asked Libya’s National Transitional Council to protect people living in the country. Abdel Hakim Belhadj, then the military commander in Tripoli, acknowledged that militias had committed abuses and stated that foreign workers should be able to live and work safely in Libya.

He said he had issued instructions for fighters to distinguish between people who had taken up arms alongside Gaddafi and those who had come to seek employment. People presented as prisoners of war, including a man from Chad whose limb had been amputated after a gunshot wound, were also shown in a Tripoli hospital. Local officials then stated that they did not treat prisoners differently from revolutionary fighters.

Nevertheless, Amnesty International considered that abuses against the Black population were continuing. The gap between stated commitments and accounts from the ground highlighted the difficulty of imposing common discipline on numerous and heterogeneous armed groups.

The Choucha camp, a symbol of forced exile

For those who managed to leave Libya, the Tunisian border represented a way out, but not an end. At the Choucha camp, in the Tunisian desert, nearly 4,000 refugees had been living under makeshift tents for several months. According to the reported information, only 15% of them were expected to be resettled in another country.

A 26-year-old woman born in Tripoli was waiting to leave for Norway with her family. Her aunt gave birth in the camp. Her journey is a reminder that foreign workers and their relatives were not fleeing the fighting alone: they were also fleeing racial identification, threats, detention and the impossibility of living normally.

The International Federation for Human Rights stated at the time that only 4% of Libyan refugees had gone to Europe, while France, England and Germany had refused to receive them on their territory.

FAQ

Why were sub-Saharan workers accused of being mercenaries in Libya in 2011?

Forces opposed to Muammar Gaddafi claimed that his regime had recruited foreign fighters. In the chaos following the capture of Tripoli, this accusation was sometimes extended to Black Africans who were nevertheless in Libya as workers, students or members of families settled in the country.

What violence did these people report?

Testimonies mention insults, assaults, theft, arrests, extortion and sexual violence. Several people also had to hide or flee to Tunisia.

Did the transitional authorities respond?

The National Transitional Council was urged by the United Nations to protect the population. Rebel officials acknowledged abuses and said they had issued instructions to distinguish civilians from alleged fighters. Amnesty International nevertheless reported that abuses were continuing.