Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Algeria has expelled more than 13,000 migrants and left them stranded in the Sahara Desert

Europe’s attempt to cut down migration to Europe has forced African migrants into bordering countries.


By Madeleine Ngo@maddietngomaddie.ngo@vox.com  Jun 26, 2018, 2:20pm EDT

The European migrant crisis is ongoing — and its impact is being felt all over the world.

One unexpected place is Algeria, a country which has expelled 13,000 migrants over the past 14 months, leaving them stranded in the Sahara desert without food or water.

As the European Union shuts down trafficking routes and other European leaders enact policies to cut down migration, some sub-Saharan African migrants from countries including Libya, Mali, and Niger have ended up in bordering countries like Algeria.

Migrants — including pregnant women and children — are dropped off in the desert and forced to walk on foot to Niger, according to the Associated Press. They must endure harsh conditions, such as temperatures up to 118 degrees Fahrenheit, while heading to Niger, which lies on the southern border of Algeria; some migrants are even threatened at gunpoint. And the country doesn’t seem to have any plans for how to improve the situation.

“They bring you to the end of Algeria, to the end in the middle of the desert, and they show you that this is Niger,” Tamba Dennis, a Liberian who lived in Algeria on an expired work visa, told the AP. “If you can’t bring water, some people die on the road.”

Janet Kamara, a Liberian migrant, told the AP that she gave birth to a stillborn child and later had to bury her child in a shallow grave in the desert. Other migrants, who were originally from Niger, were forced back to their home country on cramped trucks and buses.

Read more
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/6/26/17505670/africa-immigration-algeria-migrants-europe

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