France ready to welcome African refugees rescued from Libya

PARIS, Nov 20 (AFP): France will be the first to welcome African refugees evacuated from Libya to NIger by the United Nations refugee agency, French officials announced Monday.

After experiencing appalling living conditions at camps in the north African country, the refugees were taken to Niger on November 11 by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where they have been looked after.

The 25 Eritreans, Ethiopians and Sudanese-including 15 women and four children-should reach France "at the latest in January," the interior ministry said.

Libya has long been a major transit hub for migrants trying to reach Europe, and many of them have fallen prey to serious abuse at the hands of traffickers and others.

US television network CNN aired footage last week of an apparent live auction where black men are presented to buyers as potential farmhands and sold off for as little as $400 (340 euros).

And the European Union's policy of helping Libyan authorities intercept migrants crossing the Mediterranean and returning them to "horrific" detention has been branded "inhuman" by UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.