Graphic footages of some suspected black Africans kept against their will and subjected to serious tortures by some yet-to-be identified Libyan gunmen is one out of the many disheartening episodes that deserves the attention  of all those who care for justice.  

Truth to tell, although the fugitive ex-Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi is no doubt the villain in the bloody Libyan crisis, heaping all blames on him for every act of violence there, thereby overlooking the possible transgressions of the other side will be grossly unfair.

The battle for control over Libya between the peaceful protesters-turned rebels and Muammar Al Qathafi, who had ruled the oil rich North African country for 42 years, has been raging for over six months now.

Already, various forms of abuses of rights, including killings – mass killings in some instances – have been unraveled. Some of these atrocities have occurred and continue to occur in Libya despite the NATO intervention, which seeks to protect the civilian population.

A case in point was the uncovering of scores of suspected black Africans, who were unlawfully kept in atrocious conditions. At the time of the rescue intervention, most of them had breathed their last breath.

The question as to who committed these potential crimes against humanity is yet to be decisively established as fingers are being pointed at both sides. 

In a separate development, Qathafi’s wife is alleged to have poured boiling water on an Ethiopian woman, a nanny working for the Qathafi family. This was her punishment for failing to care-give one of their children.

She was refused to seek medical treatment and was sleeping on a small mattress dumped on a bare floor. Obviously, she would have died like those suspected black Africans had it not been the timely rescue.  Her injury was so serious that she needs to undergo plastic surgery.

Moreover, it has been reported that around fifty thousand or more prisoners have been unaccounted for.

These and many other atrocities, which could not all be mentioned here, are ample evidences of atrocities committed in Libya and both the fallen ex-Libyan leader, and his loyalists and the rebels under the auspices of the National Transitional Council (NTC), should face unbiased investigations. Both sides have a case to answer and the law should take its course on anyone found guilty. 

We hope that human rights groups, the international community and all those who care for justice are documenting these atrocities on innocent lives and will bring them forward for use against anyone suspected to have a hand in it.

The international community should not sit idly by and watch such a big loss of lives and culprits, whoever it is, go scot-free.

Presently, the West is busy outlining plans with the rebels on the future of shattered Libya while the African Union remains unheard of. Some Libyan assets have been unfrozen by some Western countries and we have also seen the shipping of millions of Libyan currency into Libya. Another high-level meeting has just ended in Paris and oil companies are rushing for lucrative investments that are up for grab in Libya.

These are welcomed if, as it was claimed, they are meant for humanitarian purposes and to rebuild Libya, especially the country’s critical oil infrastructure and essentialities such as water and electricity which are in acute shortage.

However, ensuring that justice is not only done, but also seen to be done should be of equal priority if restoring sanity and rebuilding of Libya is to be sustainable.

Many efforts are being done about the way forward for political and economic revival in Libya, but very little, if any concerns are being raised about the need for both sides to observe restraint.

It is long overdue for the UN, AU, Arab League and all other mandated groups to speak up against the unabated violence. 

It is worth mentioning here that similar atrocities had occurred in Ivory Coast some few months ago when Gbargbo refused to stand-down after losing elections to Ouattara.

In the violent clashes which ensued, it was reliably reported that both sides are possibly at fault. President Ouattara had promised that both sides will answer to claims of atrocities, but he is yet to live up to his promise.

Being the fourth in series of our editorial commentary on Libya, we would like to re-iterate that the root cause of all these disturbances is overstaying in command by leaders, in Africa in particular.

African leaders, be warned!