ADDIS ABABA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The Secretary General of La Francophonie (OIF), Michaelle Jean, has pledged cooperation with the African Union (AU) in tracking and prosecuting those involved in auctioning of African migrants in Libya.
Chairperson of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat and the OIF chief on Friday held talks on the premises of the headquarters of the pan-African bloc in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.
Jean said that many African youths risk their lives by crossing deserts and the Mediterranean Sea seeking better opportunities abroad.
She said her organization works in close cooperation with AU to address the root cause of migration by African young people who depart their own countries, risking their lives out there.
"We have to deal with the root cause of this problem; why these youth leave their countries; and as you have seen in Libya, how they have been sold in the slave trade," she said.
Libya has been embroiled in a civil after the fall and death of longtime leader Muammer Gadhafi in 2011.
The AU was dismayed about reports on the auctioning of African migrants in Libya as slaves in November last year, which the pan-African bloc strongly condemned as "despicable acts."
The tripartite taskforce forged by the AU, the European Union (EU), and the United Nations (UN) is endeavoring to support stranded African migrants in Libya, while consolidating efforts to dismantle organized networks of human traffickers and migrant smugglers.
"So we have to fight that. We have appealed to the world; we have appealed to the UN; we have been working in that area; we are also advocating for prosecuting these criminals and dismantle these criminal groups and also to enable to track these people who have been involved," said the OIF chief.
"We look for those people who have been sold and try to give them back their dignity and human status so that they will be free," she added.
