- Title: African migrants fear for their future in Algeria.
- Date: 12th December 2016
- Summary: ALGIERS, ALGERIA (DECEMBER 8, 2016) (REUTERS) AFRICAN MIGRANTS IN THE KITCHEN VARIOUS OF CONGOLESE MIGRANT, ZARA, COOKING VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS EATING SANDWICHES VARIOUS OF YOUNG GIRL MIGRANT CARRYING A BABY MIGRANTS IN KITCHEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) CONGOLESE MIGRANT, ZARA, SAYING: "I was so scared, we are all scared. We can't even go out to buy anything. We have been hungry for the past six days because if we go out, they will catch us and take us, repatriate us. So, we have been scared, we have been staying inside this house.'' YOUNG GIRL MIGRANT HOLDING SMALL CHILD (SOUNDBITE) (English) CONGOLESE MIGRANT, ZARA, SAYING: "We are looking for help. We need help. We have to leave this country. We need help, we are not at ease, we are suffering. We are not eating, we are not breathing well. We are suffering, we need help, we want to leave here. Please, you people should help us. Come and help us and take us out of this country." WOMAN MIGRANT SERVING JUICE TO OTHERS IN KITCHEN VARIOUS OF WOMAN MIGRANT WITH TEARS IN HER EYES VARIOUS OF WOMAN MIGRANT CARRYING A BABY MIGRANTS IN THE KITCHEN GUINEAN MIGRANT, MERIEM, FEEDING HER BABY (SOUNDBITE) (English) GUINEAN MIGRANT, MERIEM, SAYING: "I am very afraid, I want to leave this county, I need help. I need help. I don't have much talk to talk because I have a fear in my heart. I'm not free in this country at all. I'm not free. I need help. I need help. I have a new baby, I have a new baby with me. So, I don't know what to say. We don't walk free on the road, they rape us, they insult us on the street. They call us Kahloucha (Negro) all kinds of name. So we don't know, we don't know, we don't know where to go, we need help. So when we come out, police catch you, so we are just hiding inside this house." VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS INSIDE HOUSE / SITTING AT TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (French) IVORIAN MIGRANT, JUSTINE, SAYING: "We don't get any help, that's why I am going to make a request to the international community, those who can hear us wherever they are and can help us, we are (she starts crying) I want to go out from this country, we want to leave this country. Don't let us, please have mercy on us. We are hiding and we don't eat anything. We don't have any money to eat. We have to clean Algerians' houses to be able to eat and they don't pay us well. We are exploited because we aren't legal migrants. I have three children and we came from the Ivory Coast because we are in war. I can't go out even when I am sick." MIGRANTS IN THE KITCHEN YOUNG FEMALE MIGRANT FEEDING A BABY MALE MIGRANT LYING NEXT TO PREGNANT MIGRANT MIGRANTS IN LIVING ROOM
- Embargoed: 27th December 2016 13:36
- Keywords: Algeria migrants war police immigration Algiers
- Location: ALGIERS, ALGERIA
- City: ALGIERS, ALGERIA
- Country: Algeria
- Reuters ID: LVA0015CKSPJP
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:In a house in the Algerian capital of Algiers, a group of migrant workers say they fear for their safety in the north African country.
Algerian authorities are cracking down on illegal migrants, resulting in hundreds of people being deported.
Only last week, authorities raided homes in the city's slums and sent migrants to detention camps on the outskirts of Algiers, according to local media reports.
Congolese migrant Zara is afraid to leave the overcrowded property for fear of being arrested.
"I was so scared, we are all scared. We can't even go out to buy anything. We have been hungry for the past six days because if we go out, they will catch us and take us, repatriate us. So, we have been scared, we have been staying inside this house," she said adding that she needs 'help', a sentiment echoed by her housemates.
"We are looking for help. We need help. We have to leave this country. We need help, we are not at ease, we are suffering. We are not eating, we are not breathing well. We are suffering, we need help, we want to leave here. Please, you people should help us. Come and help us and take us out of this country," she said.
"I am very afraid, I want to leave this county, I need help. I need help. I don't have much talk to talk because I have a fear in my heart. I'm not free in this country at all. I'm not free. I need help. I need help. I have a new baby, I have a new baby with me. So, I don't know what to say. We don't walk free on the road, they rape us, they insult us on the street. They call us Kahloucha (Negro) all kinds of name. So we don't know, we don't know, we don't know where to go, we need help. So when we come out, police catch you, so we are just hiding inside this house," said Guinean migrant Meriem.
This isn't the first time for the oil producing nation to crackdown on illegal African migrants.
Last year, Algeria deported thousands of migrants to Niger, mostly women and children who came to beg on the streets, as part of a bilateral agreement between Algiers and Niamey intended to curb illegal immigration.
For migrants like Meriem, Algeria provides relative safety and stability, and an alternative destination for those unable to travel to Europe.
But in recent years, the number of people taking the dangerous route to Europe from West Africa has swelled.
According to a Human Rights Watch report released on Friday (December 9) over 1,400 migrants have been forcibly deported from Algeria this month, in one of the biggest roundups seen this year. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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