Diplomats at a UN Security Council meeting on human trafficking called Tuesday for investigations into slave auctions in Libya following a CNN report last week on the practice.

The Libyan Government of National Accord announced it will launch a probe into media reports that African migrants are being sold as slaves in the country, days after the airing of a CNN report on the issue.

The Chief of Anti-Illegal Immigration Department (AIID) Mohammed Besher has denounced the allegations in the media reports about violations against illegal immigrants in Libya.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Ibrahim Yakubo said on Sunday that Niger had summoned the Libyan ambassador to Niamey to convey the resentment of his country over the selling of African migrants as slaves in Libya.

The UN secretary-general has said he is horrified by the CNN video footage showing sub-Saharan migrants being sold off as slaves in Libya.

The Chief of the General Directorate of Coast Security at the Libyan Interior Ministry, Colonel Tariq Sahnbour, has warned of international media reports and campaigns promoting the existence of a slave market in southern Libya.

Although it is not a new problem, the issue of migration has accelerated sharply in the past five years, and migration from mainly sub-Saharan African countries to Europe across Libya can be traced back to the year 2000.

A formal investigation into alleged migrant slave auctions in Libya has been launched, Libya’s Government of National Accord announced on Friday.

The African Union on Friday called for Libyan authorities to investigate “slave markets” of black Africans operating in the conflict-torn nation, after the release of shocking images showing the sale of young men.

Scores of people stand packed in the cramped quarters of the Treeq Alsika Migrant Detention Center in Tripoli, helplessness etched across their faces.