the plight of Sub-Saharan non-mercenaries in Lbya

I’ve been worried about this… innocent black Africans in Libya being mistaken for mercenaries:

1634: The BBC has received a number of phone calls and other messages from sub-Saharan Africans in Libya. Many are saying that, because of their skin colour, they have been accused of being mercenaries serving Col Gaddafi and have been attacked. There have been reports that Col Gaddafi is being supported by soldiers from his allies in Chad and other African countries. One Turkish worker told the BBC his colleagues from Chad had been “massacred” by Libyans who thought they were mercenaries. The claims are impossible to verify independently right now.

The justified complaints about mercenaries have in some cases definitely acquired a racist undertone, and now some people are unfortunately acting on it. This needs to be watched very carefully in the immediate post-Qaddafi era. I would be very scared to be a black person in Libya right now.