Algeria expels over 1,800 migrants to Niger in mass deportation

Algerian authorities rounded up more than 1,800 migrants and left them at the Nigerien border in a account expulsion earlier this month, a Niger-essentially based totally totally migrant rights crew acknowledged Thursday. Alarmphone Sahara, which monitors migration across the location, acknowledged the migrants were bused to desolate tract field identified as “Point Zero” after being apprehended in Algerian cities.

Abdou Aziz Chehou, the crew’s nationwide coordinator, told The Associated Press on Thursday that 1,845 migrants with out genuine location in Algeria had been counted, arriving in Niger’s border town of Assamaka after the April 19 mass expulsion. That pushed the total want of expelled migrants arriving in Assamaka this month past 4,000, he acknowledged.

The determine doesn’t include of us that can strive to return north into Algeria, Chehou added. The mass deportations draw amid rising tensions between Algeria and its southern neighbors, all now led by armed forces juntas that ousted elected governments previously aligned with Algiers. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger withdrew their ambassadors from Algeria earlier this month over border security disputes. For migrants fleeing poverty, battle or native weather trade, Algeria serves as a transit point en route to Europe.

Many pass titanic stretches of the Sahara en route prior to attempting unhealthy journeys across the Mediterranean. However reinforced maritime patrols possess stranded increasing numbers in transit international locations with checkered human rights data and limited humanitarian aid. In 2024, Alarmphone Sahara recorded more than 30,000 migrants expelled from Algeria.

Same pushbacks possess additionally been reported in neighbouring Morocco, Tunisia and Libya. Neither Algerian nor Nigerien officers possess commented on the latest expulsions, which can be infrequently ever reported in Algerian press. In the past, Nigerien authorities possess acknowledged such actions seem to violate a 2014 agreement that enables only Nigerien nationals to be deported across the border.

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