Niger: Flight through the desert

In the desert of northern Niger, thousands of people are struggling to survive. They’ve been deported from Algeria, some even tortured there. Now, they’re trying to make their way to the larger oasis town of Agadez, which has been turned into a bottleneck on the road to Europe. The situation here has been steadily deteriorating since 2015. The European Union worked out a deal with Niger’s government that included generous aid funding. In return, migrants were to be prevented from heading north from Agadez. Since then, deportations have been on the increase, while de facto criminalizing the migration itself has only exacerbated security problems for the entire region. Michele Cattani met and talked with migrants on their way through the desert and witnessed the situation in Agadez. A Report by Michele Cattani