The African Union Agrees on Emergency Plan to Evacuate African Migrants From Libya

Following Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari'saction plan to bring stranded Nigerian migrants back home from Libya, the African Union has agreed on an emergency evacuation agreement at an AU-EU summit in Côte d'Ivoire.

The migrants will be sent back mainly to their home countries. Libya's UN-backed administration was present at the summit and joined the agreement, but the limited control the administration has over the territory raises questions about how this will work in action, BBC reports.

Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairman of the African Union Commission, stressed that 400,000 to 700,000 African migrants are living in camps in Libya, often under inhuman conditions, according to The Associated Press.

"At least 3,800 migrants in Tripoli need to be removed as soon as possible," he says. "That's just one camp. The Libyan government has told us there are 42."

And these camps even contain a larger number of migrants.

Check back for continued coverage, and read this op-ed that questions who's to blame for slavery in Libya here.