Malian migrant Ibrahima has been chosen as a delegate of his country in a transit center managed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Agadez, a city of Niger in the heart of the Sahara desert.
Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum has said that new accords are needed with Europe in order to manage migration properly. He has called for quotas linked to the needs of the job market in Europe.
Tunisian Foreign Minister Othman Jerandi and the EU Special Representative for the Sahel, Emanuela Del Re, have discussed the need to develop a joint vision on irregular migration based on "solidarity" and "fair development", as well as security.
Every year, hundreds of people go missing on their way to Europe. While the Mediterranean Sea is infamous for being one of the deadliest migration routes, other places such as the Sahara desert are also extremely dangerous. InfoMigrants spoke with Lucile Marbeau, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
At least 15 migrants have been found dead in the desert region along the country’s southeastern border with Sudan. Some sources claim there could be more victims.
The UN migration agency IOM confirmed that 44 West African migrants were rescued in the Nigerien desert on July 6. They were on their way to Libya.
A group of ten migrants was found dead in Niger, not far from the Libyan border, confirmed the Nigerian military. Authorities are investigating the cause of death but thirst is one supposition.
The bodies of 20 migrants who got lost in the Libyan desert near Chad have been found, Libyan authorities said on Wednesday. The group is believed to have died two weeks ago.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has strongly criticized the treatment of refugees and migrants in the border region of Niger, Algeria and Libya. With thousands of migrants being forcefully deported to Niger's Sahel region each year, the aid organization blamed the EU for its policy of strengthening border controls in African nations in a bid to keep migrants and refugees away.
At least 44 migrants drowned on Sunday when their boat capsized off the coast of the Western Sahara, migrant aid agency Caminando Fronteras said.
Two women and four children were found dead in the Tunisian desert, confirmed an official on Thursday. It is presumed they "died of thirst."
Since the beginning of the year, more than 4,000 people have been taken by the Algerian police to the border with Niger, to a place in the middle of the desert nicknamed "point zero". Abandoned there, some get lost and are never found. In a new report, MSF denounces these illegal deportations that continue despite border closure.