GENEVA, Switzerland, March 18, 2016/APO (African Press Organization)/ —
The 30th convoy of migrants repatriated from Algeria arrived on 14th March 2016, at the IOM transit center in Agadez. It was a convoy of 13 trucks including two carrying only their luggage.
Niger is one of the last stops of a long journey that West African migrants undertake before leaving the region towards Europe. Nigerien authorities estimations pointed that between 80,000 and 120,000 migrants will transit Niger in 2016, mostly coming from West Africa and heading to Libya and Algeria via the Agadez region.
On the basis of an agreement between the Nigerien and Algerian authorities on sending back home irregular migrants from Niger, this 30th convoy has brought back 9,273 migrants including 4,717 men, 1,433 women and 3,123 minors.
Before proceeding with profiling, IOM provided migrants with food, water, healthcare and shelter. The infirmary was opened for the whole evening to give migrants the care they needed.
As announced by the Nigerien authorities, 422 arrivals have been registered at the transit center. More specifically, according to the registration done by IOM staff women (2 percent), 56 minors (13 percent) and 359 men (85 percent) were in this convoy. Most of the migrants come from Zinder and Agadez.
“Given the scarcity of drinking water in the neighborhood around the Transit Center in Agadez, it is very difficult to keep a permanent supply of water for our assisted migrants at the Center,” said the Director of the Center in Agadez, Azaoua Mahaman.
IOM staff managed to call firemen and fill the water tank at the center. “Considering the large number of migrants, it’s going to be a challenge to maintain the water supplies,” explained the Head of the Sub Office in Agadez, Maurice Miango-Niwa.
IOM is actively communicating with migrants in transit to support informed migration decisions as part of a project jointly funded by European Commission’s Director General for Migration and Home Affairs and the Italian Ministry of the Interior. Migrants transiting through Niger are extremely vulnerable to exploitation and extortion from misleading and false information provided by traffickers and smugglers.
Thus IOM is engaging migrants to provide key information and track feedback through the online platform Community Response Map. For more information, visit http://niger.communityresponsemap.org/.
