Libyan government lies: Persecuted African Toubou militants not fighting for Qaddafi

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) accuses the Libyan government of consciously lying in the discussion concerning the employment of mercenaries, with the intent of allaying suspicions that foreign security forces are being hired to smash the protest movement. "In contrast to the Libyan government's claims, the dark-skinned security forces who have been deployed against the demonstrators in recent days are not Toubou from within Libya," asserted the head of the Africa section at the STP, Ulrich Delius, on Wednesday in Göttingen. "The members of this minority would be the last people in Libya to lift a finger to protect the hated Qaddafi regime. The Toubou are grievously persecuted by the state and regularly deported to neighboring Chad." The STP has been working for several years towards an end to the persecution of this ethnic group.

Witnesses have reported in the past few days from various parts of the country on the deployment of dark-skinned security forces who could only communicate with locals in French. "Qaddafi would surely have no trouble recruiting mercenaries from other African countries, since he has provided financial and political support – as well as armaments – for dozens of liberation movements and uprisings throughout Africa," said Delius. From the Tuareg movements in Mali and Niger to the rebel groups in Sudanese Darfur, Chad, and the Central African Republic, Qaddafi supplies a tight network of militants who are dependent on his generosity. "It is one of the darkest sides of Qaddafi's reign of terror, the way he has systematically instrumentalized these liberation movements." Again and again, insurgents have seen their support disappear suddenly, because the Libyan ruler had once again changed his policy.

The Toubou live primarily in southeast Libya. The members of this sub-Saharan minority have been systematically driven off their land, and several dozen Toubou have been arrested for protesting this treatment. They were not released until they publicly promised not to take any action to prevent the destruction of their homes. Anyone who resisted expulsion was beaten by security forces. More than 3,800 Toubou have been forced to leave their settlements so far.

Since December 2007 Libya has been gradually eroding the human rights of the Toubou. Their children are no longer permitted to go to school, and Toubou are no longer treated in hospitals. Furthermore, the Libyan authorities refuse to extend passports or issue new identity documents for the Toubou farmers and semi-nomads who are long-time residents of Libya.

Alongside the Tuareg, the roughly 500,000 Toubou are the main population group in the Sahara. Scattered over an area of more than 500,000 square miles, most of them live in neighboring Chad and Niger.