Chad: October 6, 2000

Archives

  About a hundred Chadians returned from Libya, fleeing a government campaign of terror against illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa. The refugees told of murderous attacks on black Africans, with at least 130 killed and many more wounded by civilian mobs. Libyan police are gathering the black Africans into camps to protect them from the violence and to make it easier to ship them out of the country.  Thousands of black Africans from other nations were also fleeing Libya, telling the same story. Nigeria has had 3,600 of it's citizens return. Some 500,000 Chadians live in Libya, and 500,000 from other sub-Saharan nations. Libya looked the other way as black Africans illegally entered the nation seeking work. This was done to improve relations with black African nations. But the shortage of jobs in Libya caused young Libyans to become violent and expel the illegals.