A transit point once bustling with incessant departures and arrivals, Agadez, Niger, has once again seen its roads bustling with activity since the military junta repealed the decree banning the transport of migrants and any migration-related activity in November 2023.
This decision has revived migrant smuggling in this town in northern Niger, where convoys of migrants now take to the road on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week.
Thus, with the help of smugglers, migrants leave Agadez aboard small 4x4s or trucks towards Libya or Algeria, countries bordering Niger and the last stages before crossing to Europe.
Sadio Diallo, a Senegalese migrant, confides: “My goal once in Europe is to join the French army, because I want to go to France. Having been a soldier in Senegal, I prefer to continue my service in Europe.”
Since the reopening of Agadez, at least 5,000 migrants have already passed through the city on their way to Libya and Algeria, in the hope of crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
Chehu Azizou, coordinator of the Alarmephone Sahara project, says there are on average three to five departures from Agadez to Libya each month, with each convoy carrying around 2,000 people.
However, unlike the large number of migrants who crossed Niger into Libya in 2015, analysts estimate that migrants will now have much more difficulty crossing the borders of countries such as Libya and Algeria, and will be facing much greater risks of eviction than in 2015.
“They (migrants) face many risks: risks of arrest and detention, risks of expulsion from Algeria. There therefore remain many factors which continue to complicate the movement of migrants towards the north,” explains Alice Fereday , senior analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
Since the start of the year, Alarmphone Sahara has already recorded at least 9,000 migrants pushed back from Algeria to Niger. The challenges and dangers faced by these migrants highlight the complexity and fragility of their journey to Europe.
This tumultuous migratory movement raises concerns and questions about the protection and rights of migrants, as well as the need for international cooperation to respond to these challenges in a humane manner that respects human rights.