50 stranded Sierra Leoneans rescued in Libya

A Libyan philanthropist, Abdul Salaam has told Politico on the line from his country that fifty Sierra Leoneans stranded in the southwestern city of Sabha will today be transferred from their dungeon-style ghetto where they have been holed up for months to a more decent housing. They will then be evacuated to Tripoli on Friday and later flown back to Freetown. It followed Politico breaking the news about the stranded Sierra Leoneans who were apparently recruited on the false promise that they would be employed in the construction and labour markets in Tripoli, Chile and Japan. They were abandoned in the north African desert after travelling by road from Freetown. Salaam said he was repatriating the stranded Sierra Leoneans on humanitarian grounds. The International Office for Migration and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are collaborating. Nine of the stranded people who had had their passports seized from them by some criminal elements in Libya will have their travel documents paid for by the UNHCR. After breaking the news, Politico contacted Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister Samoura Kamara and Director General of Foreign Affairs Rasie Kargbo   who said the ministry did not have the US$ 50,000 the embassy in Triploi had estimated for the repatriation. A Sierra Leonean based in London, Janet Martha Musa, who saw the story on the Politico website, pulled all the strings and contacted people around the world until the rescue came. Janet, who sent an initial £ 100 as a token for the refugees thanked Politico for breaking the story and shining the spotlight on the stranded compatriots. She also thanked Bakarr King Conteh, Hassan Iftoni, Yolanda Thompson, Dennis Kabbato and Bockarie Kukuku Musa, Edward Davies and Alusaine Yanssaneh who did all they could to pull it off. She thanked philanthropist Adonis Abboud whom she said had been “very helpful too”, and Gabriel Saugeron in Geneva for contacting the IOM in Tripoli. The stranded fifty, among them a woman, are expected in Freetown over the weekend.