Onboard the Ocean Viking in the Mediterranean – Forty-two-year old Florent* took off his life jacket, knelt to the floor of the Ocean Viking, a migrant rescue vessel, and let out a roar.
He looked up, index fingers pointing to the sky as tears rolled down his cheeks, trickling between grease stains and cracked, dry skin on his face. His eyes were red, not least from the trauma of being out on the sea for more than 36 hours after spending five years in Libya.
“If I die right now, I’ll die with no regrets. I’ve managed to escape Libya. It was hell. Nothing less than hell,” Florent, from Cameroon, told Al Jazeera after being rescued together with 89 other migrants and refugees from an overcrowded rubber boat in distress in the central Mediterranean.
“If the Libyans [coastguards] come on board right now, I will smash my head into that wall, slit my throat and jump into the water. That will be so much better than going back to Libya,” he said, the quaver in his voice evident despite the smile that belied the pain, agony and distress of the last five years he spent in the North African country.
Behind Florent was Karim*, a 16-year-old from Ivory Coast, whose dream of playing football in Europe led him to run away from home in 2016 without telling his parents.
Wearing Juventus football club track bottoms, Karim had a wide smile on his face, more out of relief than anything else, as he queued up for registration.
“You see this,” he said, pointing to his shoulder, “this is where a Libyan stabbed me when I asked for money for the work I did for him.”
He then pointed to his right leg and said, “This is where I was shot while waiting for work in Tripoli.”
“There is complete lawlessness there. Everyone has guns and knives. There are no rights for black people, even someone who has been stabbed or shot.”
Libya acts as a major gateway for African migrants hoping to reach Europe. According to the United Nations, there are more than 40,000 refugees and migrants in Libya.
However, a 2018 UN report highlighted that migrants are subjected to “unimaginable horrors” from the time they enter Libya, during their stay and in their attempts to cross the Mediterranean, if they make it that far.
These people arrive in Libya fleeing poverty, conflict, war, forced labour, female genital mutilation, corrupt governments and personal threats. Just the will to survive drives them away from home and into Libya, transiting through various countries on the way.
Some arrive in Libya by choice, others by force. For some, Libya is a country of destination and not transit. The promise of livelihood forces the testing and exhausting journey from home, unaware of what awaits them en route and also when they set foot in Libya.