Day: November 27, 2023
Niger’s junta said Monday that it had revoked an anti-migration law that helped reduce the flow of West Africans to Europe, but that was reviled by desert dwellers whose economies had long relied on the traffic.
The law, which made it illegal to transport migrants through Niger, was passed in May 2015 as the number of people traveling across the Mediterranean Sea from Africa reached record highs, creating a political and humanitarian crisis in Europe where governments came under pressure to stop the influx.
Niger’s junta, which took power in a July coup, repealed the law on Saturday and announced it Monday evening on state television.
The junta is reassessing its relations with former western allies who condemned the coup, and is seeking to shore up support at home, including in the northern desert communities that had benefited most from migration.
The number of migrants moving through Niger, a main transit country on the southern fringe of the Sahara Desert, dropped sharply over the years because of the law, but the change drained the lifeblood from towns and villages that had fed and housed migrants and sold car parts and fuel to traffickers.
In return, the European Union launched the nearly $5.5 billion Trust Fund for Africa in 2015, aimed at eradicating the root causes of migration, but many felt it was not enough. Unemployment soared in places like the ancient city of Agadez, a popular gateway to the Sahara.
How European leaders greet the news and what the impact will be on migration to Europe are yet to be seen.
But some people welcomed it. Andre Chani used to earn thousands of dollars a month driving migrants through the desert before police impounded his trucks in 2016. He plans to restart his business once he has the money.
“I’m going to start again,” he said via text message from Agadez on Monday. “We are very happy.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pushed on Monday for a full humanitarian cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas instead of a temporary truce, as the “humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is getting worse by the day.”
Egyptian, Qatari and U.S. negotiators closed in on an extension of a four-day truce in Gaza that expires on Monday, Egyptian security sources said, amid growing global pressure to roll over a deal which has paused seven weeks of fighting.
“The dialog that led to the agreement must continue, resulting in a full humanitarian cease-fire, for the benefit of the people of Gaza, Israel and the wider region,” Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“The United Nations will continue to support these efforts in every possible way,” he said.
Guterres again called for the hostages held by Hamas to be released immediately and unconditionally, Dujarric said.
The United Nations has scaled up the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza over the past four days during the truce and sent aid to some northern areas of the coastal enclave that had been largely cut off for weeks, Dujarric said.
“But this aid barely registers against the huge needs of 1.7 million displaced people. The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is getting worse by the day,” he said.
Niger’s junta said Monday that it had revoked an anti-migration law that helped reduce the flow of West Africans to Europe, but that was reviled by desert dwellers whose economies had long relied on the traffic.
The law, which made it illegal to transport migrants through Niger, was passed in May 2015 as the number of people traveling across the Mediterranean Sea from Africa reached record highs, creating a political and humanitarian crisis in Europe where governments came under pressure to stop the influx.
Niger’s junta, which took power in a July coup, repealed the law on Saturday and announced it Monday evening on state television.
The junta is reassessing its relations with former western allies who condemned the coup, and is seeking to shore up support at home, including in the northern desert communities that had benefited most from migration.
The number of migrants moving through Niger, a main transit country on the southern fringe of the Sahara Desert, dropped sharply over the years because of the law, but the change drained the lifeblood from towns and villages that had fed and housed migrants and sold car parts and fuel to traffickers.
In return, the European Union launched the nearly $5.5 billion Trust Fund for Africa in 2015, aimed at eradicating the root causes of migration, but many felt it was not enough. Unemployment soared in places like the ancient city of Agadez, a popular gateway to the Sahara.
How European leaders greet the news and what the impact will be on migration to Europe are yet to be seen.
But some people welcomed it. Andre Chani used to earn thousands of dollars a month driving migrants through the desert before police impounded his trucks in 2016. He plans to restart his business once he has the money.
“I’m going to start again,” he said via text message from Agadez on Monday. “We are very happy.”