By Youness Bouyoub Ph.D , Columbia University - Shortly after the popular uprising started in Libya, the situation quickly turned violent. At first rumors, then confirmed reports talked about mercenaries wreaking havoc in different cities in Libya. Eyewitnesses report that ‘African’ mercenaries have been killing unarmed civilians. Media outlets showed passports of alleged mercenaries coming from neighboring African countries. According to diverging reports, their numbers range from 6,000 to 30,000 armed men. Resorting to guns for hire, mercenaries, or ‘private contractors' in violent conflicts is not the issue here. Instead, the danger lies in equating ‘Africans’ with ‘Mercenaries’. If some mercenaries are Africans, just like Libyans are Africans, not all Africans are mercenaries. Or else, how does one refer to those reported Eastern European pilots bombing Libyan cities
