Father smuggles son, 3 through desert to Libya

A three-year-old boy was among the 168 Ghanaian migrants who embarked on a perilous journey to North African country, Libya.
The young boy was said to have embarked on the journey with his father who was determined to make a transit from the ‘war thorn’ country to Italy for a better life.
Chairman of the Ghana Community Association in Libya, Clement Appiah Twumasi revealed this on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem Thursday.
He said the father and son were among some 168 Ghanaian detainees in Libya who arrived in Ghana Wednesday night after government facilitated their release from the Libyan authorities.
The returnees who are illegal migrants landed at the Kotoka International Airport by two flights, Air Libya and Afriqiyah among them was a woman, a physically challenged man, and children.
Government paid each about 400 cedis to pay for their transportation back home. Chilling stories of dehumanizing treatment ranged from robbery to murder.
Mr. Twumasi noted that, majority of the young men deported from Libya are from Takoradi in the Western region.
He disclosed that, at the detention center where the Ghanaians were kept, about 3,000 illegal migrants from other countries lived in deplorable conditions and majority die every day.
“I don’t know why these young men live Ghana to seek greener pastures in Libya. After the overthrow of Muamma Gaddafi, the unemployment rate in the country has increased; there are no jobs” he bemoaned.
Mr. Twumasi said Libya is the main transit hub for refugees and migrants attempting to reach southern Europe by sea. They are coming from countries like Nigeria, Eritrea, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Senegal, Sudan and Somalia.
“The power vacuum in Libya after the fall Gaddafi made human trafficking and people smuggling a booming trade” he added.
Mr. Twumasi described as welcoming government’s decision to bring Ghana’s consulate to Libya to be able to secure the lives of its citizens in the country.
The arrival comes as the world wakes up to the shocking auctioning of African youths in modern day slave markets in Libya for as little as $400.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway has said at least three Ghanaian migrants have reported being among those who were auctioned as slaves in Libya, Ghana’s has revealed.