Thousands of migrants abandoned in the desert.
According to the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), thousands of migrants have been abandoned in the desert without shelter or medical care in Assamaka, in northern Niger, after being deported by Algeria. The medical-humanitarian organization calls for Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to give them immediate protection.
Migrants deported en masse
Between January 11 and March 3, 2023, approximately 4.675 migrants arrived in Assamaka, located in the Agadez region of Niger, from Algeria, which is expelling them, forcing them to walk, on foot, along the desert.
Migrants are forcibly loaded into trucks, where they travel for hours to a transition point, called Ponto Zero. From there they are told to walk on foot through the Sahara desert to the border with Niger. Temperatures can reach 48 degrees, so many of them do not survive.
Although those who manage to arrive find themselves in a worrying situation, less than 15% had access to shelter or protection when they arrived in the city. The Integrated Health Center in Assamaka, supported by MSF, is overwhelmed, according to Schemssa Kimana, MSF coordinator in Agadez.
The migrants' living conditions are worrying, with people sleeping in all areas of the facility, some setting up makeshift shelters and others camping in front of the maternity ward.
According to MSF, there is no precedent for such a complicated situation in Assamaka. Due to the extremely high temperatures, many seek shelter in unhygienic areas, such as dumpsters.
urgent humanitarian appeal
Since 2017, MSF has been working in the Agadez region, distributing essential goods and supporting the Integrated Health Centre.
The organization also provides free primary care consultations and directs critical cases to the city of Agadez, which is several hundred kilometers from Assamaka, in addition to providing logistical support to the centre, however, the support they provide has proved to be insufficient.
Many of the migrants report concern about the lack of response about returning to their countries of origin and the unsustainable conditions and discomfort in which they live, precarious food and inadequate housing are causing many illnesses.
Jamal Mrrouch, MSF's general coordinator in Niger, says the situation calls for an urgent humanitarian response from ECOWAS and its Member States. According to him, the lack of assistance to migrants in terribly precarious conditions in the Assamaka desert puts the health and safety of all people in the region at risk.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, it is not just European countries that refuse to receive African migrants, in Africa, several countries, claiming inability to receive migrants, or, when possible, prevent them from entering or expel them without mercy.
This situation with Algeria is unfortunately recurrent. In 2014, a similar situation had already occurred, culminating in the death of more than 30.000 migrants and in 2017, they also forced more than 2800 migrants to make the same crossing.
It would be expected that there would be greater fraternity and companionship among African peoples, but unfortunately, reports like this one only prove that Africa's attempt to present itself internationally as a single whole is flawed and that the continent still has a long way to go. .
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Picture: © Amnesty International
