NIGER/FILE: Despite attempts by Niger's government to shut down the country's desert migrant routes, thousands continue to make the treacherous journey from Africa to Europe

Record ID: 236726

  • Title: NIGER/FILE: Despite attempts by Niger's government to shut down the country's desert migrant routes, thousands continue to make the treacherous journey from Africa to Europe
  • Date: 15th May 2014
  • Summary: AGADEZ, NIGER (MARCH 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) AGADEZ TRADITIONAL CHIEF, SULTAN, SAYING: "The official version is that it's prohibited, that we should have no more of that (human trafficking). But from here to there, we are still seeing some cases come back to Agadez, or from Arlit, or leaving from Agadez, who we are trying to send back to their homes, either in the area of Zinder or back to Nigeria." VARIOUS OF CAMP OF MIGRANTS WAITING TO LEAVE FOR ALGERIA FROM AGADEZ (SOUNDBITE) (French) GUINEAN MIGRANT, IBRAHIMA BA, SAYING: "In Mali they ask you for 5,000 ($10) or 10,000 ($ 20), even in Burkina, the same thing, all the way to Niger. Everywhere the same problems, they take your money. You have your passport, your ID card and your documents, but they still take everything away."
  • Embargoed: 30th May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Niger, Libya
  • City:
  • Country: Niger Libya
  • Topics: Crime,International Relations,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA1TZB4BKSMJQ5ON8T2JLRE6QMX
  • Story Text: After 92 people died of thirst attempting to cross the Sahara in late September, the government of Niger moved to shut down its decades-old desert migrant routes.
    But interviews with migrants, smugglers and officials in Agadez and in the capital Niamey tell a different story.
    The crackdown initially stemmed the flow of migrants. But human traffickers have opened up new, more dangerous routes, and have begun charging more than ever for people to make the journey.
    Amadou Diaw is one of many Senegalese migrants who has attempted the tough journey. But he was caught and sent back from Libya. Diaw is currently living at a camp run by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), an outpost where migrants can shelter before trying to make their way back home.
    "I left Senegal to go to Libya in search of money. The problems started immediately from Mali, all the way to Libya. When you enter Mali, there are many security checkpoints. When you get to a checkpoint they will ask you for money. If you say you don't have money they will search you, they will take all your luggage, and if they find your money they will take it all," Diaw said.
    To implement the new measures, the government tried to stamp down on corrupt practices.
    Police have raided dozens of transit houses, where would-be emigrants stay until heading off across the desert for North Africa and Europe beyond, and arrested a handful of traffickers and officials.
    About 50 policemen in the region and around Agadez have been replaced. Niger's government says large-scale migrant smuggling, which in effect was officially tolerated for years, has now ended.
    The crackdown has ended the spectacular mass departures of the past, but migrants are still leaving the ancient trading town, often in small groups at night to meet up with 4x4s waiting in the desert.
    Niger's Justice Minister, Marou Amadou, said the government was still working on rooting out corrupt officials.
    "It has equally allowed us to pursue all the people who were in one way or another involved in this traffic, the people-smugglers, the corrupt staff in our security and defence forces who weren't doing their job and who close their eyes to the measures we implemented, and this pursuit continues," he said.
    The president of Agadez Regional Council, Mohamed Anacko, said the new measures had actually pushed the multi-million dollar business further into the hands of smuggling gangs, dominated by the Sahara's nomadic Toubou tribe.
    "It's mafia networks, people trafficking networks. People are trying to organise themselves on how to better escape the state, because until now, up until the last measures were implemented, they collaborated they worked together with the state. Now these networks have reorganised themselves and they have become stronger, particularly as now they are the ones who control and run things," he said.
    The speed with which the trade has sprung back into life shows how hard it is for nations such as Niger to stop illegal emigrants from leaving. The experience of the past few months in Agadez also highlights the problem of official collusion in the trade. Often, the very people meant to police the immigrant routes are involved in the business themselves.
    Agadez's Traditional Chief, Sultan, confirmed that even with new measures in place, human trafficking continues.
    "The official version is that it's prohibited, that we should have no more of that (human trafficking). But from here to there, we are still seeing some cases come back to Agadez, or from Arlit, or leaving from Agadez, who we are trying to send back to their homes, either in the area of Zinder or back to Nigeria," he said.
    At a bus depot in downtown Niamey each evening, a steady flow of migrants arrive from across West Africa ahead of the 3am bus for Agadez. They gather in groups, resting on mats laid out in the open to catch the occasional breeze during the intense evening heat.
    Guides briefing migrants on what to expect tell them that on top of the 17,000 CFA ($36) bus ticket, they will have to pay 43,000 CFA in bribes to get through the police checkpoints along the road from the capital to Agadez. For anyone without correct documents it will be double.
    Guinean migrant Ibrahima Ba, who documented his last unsuccessful journey, says the reality can be far worse.
    "In Mali they ask you for 5,000 ($10) or 10,000 ($ 20), even in Burkina, the same thing, all the way to Niger. Everywhere the same problems, they take your money. You have your passport, your ID card and your documents, but they still take everything away," he said.
    Migrants and local officials say the cost of a space in a pickup from Agadez to Al Qatrun, the first main town inside Libya, has risen to around 150,000 CFA from 115,000 CFA last year.
    The popularity of routes changes as authorities adapt. A crackdown by Spanish and African authorities on the Canary Island route over recent years has meant more traffic through the Sahara, where the violence and chaos of post-Gaddafi Libya has made things easier.
    Given the nature of the trade, statistics on the numbers of those who try to cross the Sahara and either make it, fail or die on the way, are sketchy.
    At least 34,800 people have made the treacherous crossing from North Africa to Europe so far this year, compared to 43,000 in all of 2013, according to figures from the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR.
    Hundreds of those are likely to have come via Agadez.
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