By Tabora Bojang
The Minister for the Interior, Mai Ahmad Fatty, who was in Rwanda for a two-day continental meeting on migration, refugees and forced displacement, met his Libyan counterpart over the plight of Gambians in the maghrebi country.
“Our meeting focused on strengthening cooperation between the two sides but more particularly on the treatment of our citizens in their country, principally those under the detention of warring militia factions,” Fatty told The Standard.
Fatty said The Gambia Government was keen on the meeting, especially after some voluntary returnees came back home with serious gunshot wounds and degraded physical conditions and with horrific stories of how they were maltreated in Libya.
“Since we are talking about migration and displacement of people in Africa and Libya plays a great role in all this, it was necessary for me to express our concern and to engage the Libyan authorities directly on the problems our citizens are facing in their country,” the minister said.
According Fatty, The Gambia Government has a responsibility to protect and look after the welfare of its citizens at home or abroad.
The Kigali conference also discussed the common African decision on migration and that Libya has a responsibility to protect Gambian nationals in their territory and to treat them humanely in accordance with its domestic laws and international protocols.
The meeting which attracted over 200 participants was meant to consider and discuss adopting the protocol to the treaty establishing the African economic community relating to free movement of persons, right of residence and right of establishment.
