For several weeks, the repatriation of migrants expelled from Algeria to Niger has been very slow, and the transit camps in the region are overwhelmed. As they face geopolitical upheavals, consular complications, and logistical difficulties, the patience of some migrants is put to the test. Mehdi Chebil reports for InfoMigrants.
Every year, Algeria expels thousands of sub-Saharan Africans to Niger, abandoning them at a place called Point-Zero on the border in the middle of the Sahara. The Nigerien village of Assamaka, a few hours south by foot, has been overwhelmed by these waves of successive pushbacks. Mehdi Chebil reports for InfoMigrants.
Nigeria and South Africa have expressed alarm at reports that their nationals are being stopped from leaving war-torn Ukraine. At Lviv train station, in western Ukraine, FRANCE 24 met several African students who say they were pushed back at the Medyka border crossing with Poland.
Ten weeks after the shipwreck that killed 27 migrants in the Channel, charities and rescue organizations fear that a similar tragedy could happen anytime. Despite bad weather conditions, people living in the Grande-Synthe camp near Dunkirk keep on trying to cross the Channel on small boats. InfoMigrants reports.
Thousands of Iraqis and Syrians have recently flown to Belarus, lured by a "tourist" package promising them an illegal but easy crossing into the European Union. When they realized that the Polish border was sealed, it was too late -- Belarusian soldiers would not let them back in. InfoMigrants reports.
Illicit crossings between the Tunisian port of Zarzis and the Italian coast have increased sharply in 2021. Chamseddine Marzoug, an activist who has been involved for years with migrants' rights, faced an unprecedented situation. His own wife, accompanied by two of his grandchildren, decided to cross the sea to Europe -- without telling him.
France and Britain are deploying more police and hi-tech surveillance equipment on the French northern coast to make small boat Channel crossings more difficult. Rights groups in Calais say that similar measures last year failed to stem the number of crossings, while migrants insist that they are prepared to take desperate measures to reach the UK. InfoMigrants reports.
Police in Calais have recently changed their tactics, making it harder for migrants to anticipate raids on their makeshift camps. Thousands of tents have been confiscated, causing worse humanitarian conditions.
Families from Afghanistan have joined the African and Arab migrants who regularly attempt the alpine crossing from Italy to France. InfoMigrants followed a team of rescue volunteers on February 5 as they patrolled the perilous mountain paths used by asylum seekers.
Shamsullah Ajad is a 16-year-old migrant from Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. InfoMigrants met him as he was collecting his belongings from a tent in the former Moria camp, where most structures have been destroyed by fire.
Migrants who fled the Moria camp blaze one week ago are still living on the streets in grim conditions, with no proper shelter or sanitation, fuelling fears of a future surge in coronavirus cases.
One week after flames swept through the Moria migrant camp, thousands of people from Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa are still living alongside a stretch of road on the island of Lesbos. They sleep rough in makeshift shelters and have very limited access to food and water supplies. InfoMigrants reports.