More than 100 East African migrants escaped from smugglers holding them captive near the Libyan town of Bani Walid earlier this week, with some of them wounded and reportedly killed in the process, a local source and humanitarian workers said.
The local source in Bani Walid and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the migrants were shot at as they tried to flee. Survivors told MSF that at least 15 people were killed and up to 40, mostly women, had been left behind.
MSF said in a statement it had treated 25 of the migrants at Bani Walid hospital, and that some had severe gunshot wounds and multiple fractures.
The migrants, numbering about 140 and of Eritrean, Ethiopian and Somali nationality, had been held by "notorious trafficker Mousa Diab", according to a separate statement by the UN migration and refugee agencies.
They were mainly teenagers seeking asylum in Europe, and reported being held by traffickers who had sold them multiple times around Bani Walid and the nearby town of Nesma, MSF said.
Bani Walid, about 145 km (90 miles) south of Tripoli, has become a major hub for the smuggling and trafficking of migrants who arrive from sub-Saharan African countries trying to reach Libya's Mediterranean coast.
From there, many seek to travel on towards Italy by boat, though crossings have been sharply reduced since last July when a major smuggling group in the Libyan coastal city of Sabratha struck a deal to halt departures under Italian pressure and was then forced out in clashes.
Libya's EU-backed coastguard has also returned more migrants to Libya after intercepting them at sea.
Migrant community representatives have said smugglers are now operating further inland, especially around Bani Walid where they run clandestine prisons, and that migrants who are frequently tortured or raped in order to extort money from them or their families are being held for longer.
"Kidnapping for ransom remains a thriving business, boosted by European Union-sponsored policies aimed at criminalising migrants and refugees and preventing them from reaching European shores at all cost," MSF said.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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Kat Wightman's tips on how to create zones in large spaces
- Area carpets or rugs are the easiest way to segregate spaces while also unifying them.
- Lighting can help define areas. Try pendant lighting over dining tables, and side and floor lamps in living areas.
- Keep the colour palette the same in a room, but combine different tones and textures in different zone. A common accent colour dotted throughout the space brings it together.
- Don’t be afraid to use furniture to break up the space. For example, if you have a sofa placed in the middle of the room, a console unit behind it will give good punctuation.
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'Gold'
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
