The All Progressives Congress (APC) Scandinavia Chief and Global Affairs Analyst, Ayoola Lawal has vehemently condemned the sales of African migrants as slaves in the North African nation of Libya by a CNN report.

Lawal made this known in a telephone conversation with The Nation, during which he stressed that the recent confirmation of the rumor calls for an immediate action by the African Union (AU) leaders.

According to the APC Scandinavia Chief, the AU needs to wedge action immediately to rescue all the victims being sold and in their captivity.

Protesters demonstrate against slavery in Libya at Olof Palme in Göteborg Sweden

“The victims must be rehabilitated and taken care of appropriately. Human slavery is simply a crime against humanity, and it should be properly investigated and all the accomplices in the atrocities and criminal trading must be brought to book by all means.

“The shocking footage of human auctions took the continent a century backward, unbelievable! While some Africans are working indefatigably to polish the image of the continent by scrupulously engaging in cutting-edge solutions and initiatives to position the continent as a new frontier for the world, some criminal troglodytes are busy dragging the continent a century backward by even engaging in such cruel slave trade of their African brothers and sisters,” he lamented.

Ayoola further observed that the African leaders must wake up from their slumber and actively spring into action to save the continent.

“I commend President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame for voicing out against such inhumane trading and serving as a beacon light for the continent in this revealed dark moment in the recent history of the Africa continent for the willingness of his administration to provide refuge to the nearly 30,000 economic African migrants being subjected to unwarranted inhuman abuse in Libya.

“I implore the Federal government of Nigeria and other African leaders to treat this situation as an emergency and spring to action to save their people and see that perpetrators are immediately brought to book in the International Criminal Court and collectively come up with a permanent approach to put an end to this renewed scourge on African continent,” he recommended.

Furthermore, thousands of people, on Saturday staged a protest at Olof Palme in Göteborg, Sweden, against the auctioning of human being in Libya.

The protesters displayed placards which read: “End Slavery Now”, “Humans! Not For Sale” and “We Are Not For Sale” among others.

They challenged the leadership of the African Union to swiftly address the situation in Libya, demanding that conscious efforts be put in place to continually check such barbaric practices, ensuring that those found culpable in the Libya slave market face the law at the ICC.

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‘They sell Africans over there’: Libya’s slave trade

The world’s most vulnerable, fleeing war and poverty back home, are being abused and auctioned off as slaves – a shocking danger facing migrants and refugees in Libya. It has been reported that hundreds of people are being auctioned in modern day slave markets in Libya for as little as $400.

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 of Muammar Gaddafi has made human trafficking and people smuggling a booming trade.

And the European Union’s renewed strategy to stop migrants and refugees travelling across the Mediterranean has led to more people being stuck in the north African country without money or food.

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith reports.

Aljazeera