UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema says the UN and AU should rise to the occasion and implement measures that will stop the slave trade in Libya.

In a statement today, Hichilema stated that blaming Libya was an absolute fallacy because African dictatorships which were denying people their civil liberties, freedoms, unemployment due to corruption and bad governance were to blame.

“In the past few days, World major news networks as well as social media have been bombarded and inundated with harrowing, awful, horrifying and truly sickening images of black African slaves, undergoing unimaginable torture and abuse in Libya. We condemn these abuses and call on the World to act now. This makes very sad reading and calls on all of us to truly and honestly introspect on why humanity can go to such lengths in exerting so much cruelty, to its own species without any iota of remorsefulness, empathy or any form of emotion,” Hichilema stated.

He stated that there was no real central authority in Libya thereby making that country a playground for all kinds of lawbreaking.

“Libya is a country in Africa whose founding fathers believed in African values and traditions based on our common goals, as enshrined in the ideologies of Pan Africanism and the original OAU charters, the organisation that is the forerunner of the current AU. So what has really gone wrong? We all know that there is currently no real central authority in Libya. It is now therefore a playground of all kind of bands of lawless war lords who have taken advantage of its transit position of human traffickers into Europe,” Hichilema added.

“At this point however, blaming Libya is an absolute fallacy because it would be similar to blaming symptoms of an ailment than the disease itself. As long as the World wrongly focuses on the symptoms of the Libyan slave trade without treating the actual disease, we will be missing the real cause. The cause of the Libyan slave question is that our brothers and sisters are fleeing from economic slavery imposed by African despots and dictators of their countries of origin. African Dictatorships that are denying their people their civil liberties, freedoms, unemployment and enslave them to economic deprivation due to corruption and bad governance are the real reasons behind this exodus of our people to the North, in search of a better life.”

Hichilema further stated the need for the world to demand for democracy that would enable accountability to thrive.

“Without the World demanding for democracy that will enable accountability to thrive, then there shall be no human rights, no freedoms to allow people to live peacefully politically and economically. This in turn will cause seismic movements to wherever people hope to find survival and freedom. The World must invest their energies in the promotion of true democracy, a culture of the process of free, fair and transparent elections and the respect of our people’s civil liberties. Once they do that, unnecessary migration will be nipped in the bud as Africa is blessed with abundant natural resources and good climates. Africa is the continent of the future and all what it’s people are asking for from the African leadership is true democracy that will be truly accountable to its citizens,” stated Hichilema.

“Our prayers and thoughts are with our brothers and sisters that are undergoing untold suffering in the Libyan slave trade. We urge the U.N. and the AU to rise to the occasion and take measures that will stop the slave trade in Libya.”