Black Africans are, and have been, for the better part of the Libyan conflict, in serious peril. They have been consistently hunted down like stray-dogs and cats, cornered, incarcerated, tortured and executed in unhealthy numbers. The gory images of public lynching; the meticulous and unwatchable butchering of black Africans awash the social media shows the brainlessness with which man can sink to the lowest abyss of brutish animality.
In this article, the validity of black African mercenaries in Libya is explored, vis–à–vis legitimate migrant workers from Sub-Sahara Africa. The same goes for the genesis of Islamic Pan-African legion, the changing face of US military contracting exercise focusing more on Africa, along with the changing trend on the mercenary trade; an indicator of the effect of the hyper-militarisation that happened in Africa in the 1990s. The final section scrutinises the call for a United States of Africa (USAfrica), aspirations that have been driving its promoters like Muammar Gaddafi and Yoweri Museveni, and why it is untenable.
HERBERT AWUOR
