By Adama Makasuba
One of the Gambian migrants has detailed how he escaped death in the hands of armed bandits in Libya, while attempting to reach Italy through the Mediterranean Sea.
Muhammed Jallow, driver by profession took perilous ‘backway’ route to Europe in order to put food on table for his family after losing his father who was the breadwinner of the family.
But in Italy, he came under a siege of armed criminal who took all his belongings while he was on gunpoint of people whom he identified as stranded African migrants in Libya.
“Unknown armed men whom I identified many as black people came and attacked me when fighting flared up and took away all my properties and left me with nothing. So, I was there suffering for so long,” he explained progressively and in detail.
He said many migrants’ lives were taken by fellow migrants who’ve ventured into criminality. He added that once they caught you with nothing to take away from you, they will kill you.
After arriving in Italy, Mr Jallow came in contact with another group of African migrants whom he identified might have come from West Africa who were finally been responsible and cause of his deportation because they were engaged into illegal activities.
He explained: “They [Italian police] investigated me, because white people don’t want you to come and sell cannabis to teenagers. That’s what they hate and the boys [his peers] were engaged in this activity. But I didn’t want them to be doing this activity. I used to advise them against what they are doing – it is very dangerous. They were adamant to my advice until the police came in to arrest all of us. I know many of them are Senegalese, they put me in this trouble!”
When he got arrested by the Italian police, he was threatened to be deported to another nation which he insisted and told them that he’s from The Gambia. And he got deported back to the Gambia with absolutely nothing and he is seeking support to restart life.
“What I need now as far as I’m a qualified driver, if I can have the support to buy a car or vehicle which I can use to work in order to put food on the table for my family. This will be of monumental benefit to me and my family,” he pleaded.
Report showed between January and August 2020, 179 migrants from unknown or mixed origins died in the attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, 90 individuals who died in the Mediterranean Sea originated from North Africa, adding in 2019, 181 North Africans were recorded to have died in the Mediterranean Sea, while further 50 individuals came from Sub-Saharan countries.
The Mediterranean Sea recorded worldwide the largest number of deaths and missing cases of people who migrated between January and August 2020, 281, the report added.
