Algeria has turned back 20,000 migrants to Niger this year: NGO
The HinduAlgeria has turned back nearly 20,000 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to neighbouring Niger since January, in often "brutal conditions", Niamey-based NGO Alarme Phone Sahara told media on Monday Irregular migrants, including women and children, have since 2014 frequently been pushed back by Algeria, a key transit point for those attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. Alarme Phone Sahara -- which rescues migrants in the vast desert spanning Algeria and Niger -- recorded 19,798 people turned back between January and August, its communications officer Moctar Dan Yaye said. "Migrants get arrested during raids on where they live or work in cities, or at the Tunisian border, and are pooled in Tamanrasset before being driven in trucks towards Niger," said Mr. Yaye. Since Niger in November repealed a 2015 law that criminalised migrant trafficking, "numerous people have been moving freely" on migration routes "without fearing reprisals" as they did before, the NGO reported.
History of this topic
27 migrants found dead in Libyan desert at border after possible expulsion from Tunisia
India TV NewsTunisian minister concedes ‘small groups’ of migrants were pushed back into desert no man’s land
Associated PressAt least 15 migrants died this week off Tunisia’s coast and at a desert border amid tensions
Associated PressUnder pressure, Tunisia takes back hundreds of migrants trapped in a border zone with Libya
Associated Press
Sub-Saharan African countries repatriating citizens from Tunisia after ‘shocking’ statements from country’s president
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Al Jazeera
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