Irregular Migration: Niger Will Repatriate Thousands of Migrants Repressed by Algiers

Niger to receive 4,000 migrants from Algeria

Niger will receive 4,000 migrants expelled from Algeria for humanitarian reasons, according to the governor of the Agadez region. Ibrah Boulama stated on state television that the UN’s IOM will assist with the repatriation to their home countries. This operation, planned between now and July, aims to prevent a “humanitarian disaster” following an “unprecedented wave of pushbacks” from Algeria in April. Over 6,000 migrants arrived in Assamaka, ov…

For more than two years, thousands of illegal West African migrants have been regularly evicted from Algeria, a country that has become a transit point to Europe. But in recent weeks, the Niger authorities have been sounding alarms at an unprecedented intensification of the refoulements.

Niamey aims, in collaboration with IOM's United Nations organization, to return by July to their countries of origin "more than 4,000 migrants" evicted by neighbouring Algeria.