It was only after decades of silence that surviving victims of the Holocaust began to speak up and tell of the harrowing experiences that they went through.

The same will happen with the victims of human trafficking and the atrocities which have been committed through Africa and in Libya. While their suffering can never be comparable to the systematic extermination of the Jews under Nazi Europe, we draw the comparison because it is only after years and years that victims actually managed to recount the horrific tales they had to tell.

Even now, many clam up, and their stories are largely told through movies and books. Telling those stories in person evokes far too many emotions. It will be the same for African nationals who have been through bitter and terrifying experiences in trying to get to Europe. On today’s front cover, we give space to Tareke Brhane who now works as an interpreter for Save the Children in Lampedusa.

He tells the story of how he was pushed back to Libya in 2006. He was jailed and treated like an animal for three months before being sold on to human traffickers. He tells of how he saw people living like beasts in filth and sweat. Being beaten and tortured. He tells of how women, even underage girls, disappeared at night, never to be seen again. It perhaps explains why the African women who arrive in Malta are often pregnant or nursing – self defence, or a result of forced intercourse.

What Mr Brhane recounts is only the tip of the iceberg. Many years ago, a number of Eritreans were repatriated from Malta and months later, after one of them managed to escape to freedom, an explicit account was given of the torture these people had to endure.

Malta and Italy both took an active part in pushbacks to Libya after a deal was struck with Muammar Gaddafi and one wonders whether that participation will come back to haunt us.

While only the people who endured the excesses of the Gaddafi regime and its treatment of African nationals will know the full extent of what happened in Libyan jails, it is safe to say that their treatment was appalling.

One only need to look at what has unfolded in Misurata, Zawiya and other cities, to get a good idea. In this instance Gaddafi and his loyal troops murdered hundreds of their own. Africans were probably regarded as ‘sport’. In time, the world will be told. Books will be written in the future and movies will be made. We will, at some point in the future, choke back tears and hang our heads in shame.