African and Arab slave traders are running active slave markets in Libya, dealing in blacks trying to cross the Sahara Desert to invade Europe, it has emerged. The slaves are used as forced labor until their families pay ransoms, with communications done by cell phone networks, and money transfer companies such as Western Union. According to a report by the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM), their staff in Niger and Libya have documented hundreds of cases of blacks being captured and sold in slavery while trying to get to Libya. Read the rest at The New Observer.