Ethiopian Injured in “horrific” Libya Attack

ADDIS ABABA – All but one Ethiopians managed to come out of this week’s attack, in Libya’s detention center, alive and without injury, said the ministry of foreign affairs on Friday.

More than 44 migrants killed and over 130 wounded in the airstrike, according to the U.N. mission to the country. All the victims of the attack are migrants.

Ministry of foreign affairs confirmed that at least 20 Ethiopians were in the migrant detention center when the attack happened.

And only one Ethiopian sustained a minor injury due to the attack on the Libyan capital Tripoli, said the ministry in a statement sent to The Monitor.

Authorities say all of them have received a temporary traveling document with the Ethiopian embassy in Cairo, Egypt, following their cases.

They are currently under the protection UN migration agency and Libyan army, the statement confirmed, adding the Ethiopian government is working with the UN to repatriate them to their home.

The attack is drawing condemnation from all sides. Moussa Faki Mahamat, the African Union Commission’s chairperson, strongly condemned the airstrike on a Libya detention center and demanded those responsible for the “horrific crime” be held to account.

In a statement, the chairperson described that attack as a “horrific crime” and wants those responsible to be brought to account.

U.N. Libya envoy Ghassan Salame also condemned the attack, saying in a statement that the strike “clearly amounts to the level of a war crime”.

Libya is the main departure point for migrants from Africa fleeing poverty and war who are trying to reach Italy by boat, but many get picked up by the Libyan coast guard.

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Caption: People gathered outside the detention center after the airstrike