More than 600 Niger citizens have been forcibly deported from Libya on a “dangerous and traumatizing” journey across the Sahara, in what is thought to be one of the largest expulsions from the North African country to date.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) confirmed 613 people, all Nigerien nationals, arrived in the desert town of Dirkou in Niger last weekend in a convoy of trucks. They were among a large number of migrant workers rounded up by the authorities in Libya over the past month.
“This is something new. There was one expulsion of 400 people last July, but this convoy is the largest number to date,” said Azizou Chehou, of the migrant distress response charity Alarm Phone Sahara.
Reasons For Mass Deportation
The deportations come as EU countries have been accused of ignoring the widespread and systematic human rights violations and abuses against migrants in Libya as they seek to reduce the number of people arriving in Europe. To achieve this, Italy recently signed deals with Tunisia and Libya to reduce Mediterranean crossings.
David Yambio, spokesperson for the nonprofit organization Refugees in Libya, commenting on this said: “This is Europe’s border policy laid bare, outsourcing mass expulsion and death to Libya, where the desert becomes a graveyard.
“Leaders like [Viktor] Orbán, [Giorgia] Meloni, or Trump applaud such efficient cruelty. It’s no accident; it’s the design. The EU pays to erase migrants, to make suffering invisible, and to wash its hands while others do its dirty work.” He said.
Chehou said the journey across the Sahara region between Libya and Niger was “dangerous and traumatising”. “Winter in the desert is very cold and with migrants packed like sardines, fights to find the most comfortable spots can break out and people can fall out of the truck breaking limbs. People will arrive [in Agadez] in a very sorry state.”
Jalel Harchaoui, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and a specialist on Libya, said the periodic roundup and expulsion of foreign workers was, “something of a tradition in southern Libya since even during the time of Gadafi”, but that this incident was notable and different because of the large number of people expelled in one go.
Significance For Nigeria
The mass deportations being carried out by Libya pose a threat to Nigerians who have long favored the deathtrap route across the Sahara to find their way into Europe. Over the years Nigerians who have been stuck on this journey have had to settle in Libya to take up employments.
The latest clampdown on migrant workers by Libya means it is only a matter of time before migrant Nigerian workers are also deported from the North African country. A precursor of the fate that might befall Nigerian migrant workers in Libya was seen in the aftermath of Nigeria’s super Eagles’ fracas with the Libya national team in their recent nations cup qualifying encounter when Libyan government officials went in search of Nigerian migrants with the aim of deportation.
