Between 8th and 21st of October 2022, at least 1964 people from various countries were deported from Algeria to Niger. The number of people deported since the beginning of 2022 is now at least 19069.
Once again, people deported in "unofficial" convoys were forced out of trucks by the police at #PointZero in the desert in the Algerian-Nigerian border area and forced to walk 15km to #Assamaka, the border village in Niger. The people deported in the "official" convoy, usually citizens of Niger deported on the basis of an deportation agreement between Algeria and Niger, are transported to the Niger cities of Arlit or Agadez.
The Alarme Phone Sahara team from Assamaka went to "Point Zero" with their tricycle to assist the deportees, especially the sick, injured and weakened, to get to the village of Assamaka.
Assistance for people deportees with the Alarme Phone Sahara tricycle
between "Point Zero" and Assamaka
Figures of people deported in October 2022
07.10.2022: 680 deportees in an unofficial deportation convoy, among them 18 women, 4 underage girls, one underage boy, and 657 men, were dropped off at "Point Zero" to walk to Assamaka.
Arrival of people deported from Algeria and dropped in the desert
walking from "Point Zero" to Assamaka
The largest groups of deportees were again 127 Guineans and 171 Malians. Besides them, there were 69 nationals from Sudan, 23 from Benin, 27 from Burkina Faso, 37 from Cameroon, 40 from Ivory Coast, 42 from Senegal, 25 from Nigeria, 22 from Chad, 24 from Guinea Bissau, 42 from Gambia, 11 from Sierra Leone, 8 from Niger, 4 from Liberia, 3 from Togo, 2 from Central African Republic and one each from Ghana, Syria and Yemen.
The Alarme Phone Sahara team from Assamaka went to "Point Zero" with their tricycle to assist the deportees, especially the sick, injured and weakened, to get to the village of Assamaka.
09.10.2022: Arrival of an official deportation convoy with 812 Nigerien citizens, including 52 women, 80 minor girls, 74 minor boys and 606 men.
14.10.2022: 106 deportees in an unofficial deportation convoy, among them 7 women, a minor girl, a minor boy, and 97 men, were dropped off at a place east of "Point Zero" at about 3.30 am in the night to walk to Assamaka, where they arrived at about 6 am.
The Alarme Phone Sahara team was alerted at around 9am and rushed to the border with their tricycle to assist the deportees, especially the sick, injured and weakened, who had not yet arrived on foot, to bring them to Assamaka village.
The largest groups of deportees were again 35 Guineans and 23 Malians. Besides them, there were also 10 nationals from Benin, 12 from Burkina Faso, 6 from Cameroon, 4 from Ivory Coast, 4 from Nigeria, 7 from Sierra Leone, and one each from Niger, Senegal, Ghana, Congo and Bangladesh.
This latter person from Bangladesh was pushed back to Algeria by the Niger authorities on the grounds that he is not a citizen of an ECOWAS member state.
16.10.2022: Arrival of an official deportation convoy with 97 Nigerien citizens, including 9 women, 19 minor girls, 17 minor boys and 52 men.
19.10.2022: 121 deportees in an unofficial deportation convoy, among them one woman, one minor boy, and 119 men, were dropped off at "Point Zero" to walk to Assamaka.
The largest groups of deportees were again 37 Guineans and 33 Malians. Besides them, there were also 12 nationals from Benin, 3 from Burkina Faso, 5 from Cameroon, 6 from Ivory Coast, 5 from Senegal, 3 from Liberia, 4 from Nigeria, 2 from Sierra Leone, 3 from Niger, one person from Guinea Bissau, one from Gabon and one from the Gambia.
21.10.2022: Arrival of an official deportation convoy with 148 Nigerien citizens, including 9 women, 30 minor girls, 25 minor boys and 84 men.
Deportation agreement between Algeria and Niger
As a reminder, in 2014, Niger accepted an agreement with Algeria to deport Nigeriens, especially people in precarious situations. It is this agreement that gives legitimacy to the Algerian state to deport thousands of people every year, including nationals of other countries who are not in fact covered by this agreement, but deported in the "unofficial" convoys.
We demand that this deportation agreement between Algeria and Niger, and all deportation agreements, be cancelled!
#StopDeportation!!!
Alarme Phone Sahara Tricycle: Assistance to deportees in distress
The tricycle of Alarme Phone Sahara (APS) in #Assamaka served as an assistance to deportees from #Algeria, especially to those deported in "unofficial" convoys and deposited in the desert at "Point Zero". Comrades of the APS team in Assamaka reported that they had to help and transport deportees from "Point Zero" to Assamaka:
"We are the first to go and pick up the deportees at point zero. The pictures speak for themselves: among them are sick, exhausted and especially thirsty people. We went back and forth several times by tricycle. And we stayed to reassure the sick and tired while waiting for them to board the tricycle".
According to them, it would also be necessary to create capacities to provide water to the deportees, especially to those who cannot be boarded immediately, directly on site at "Point Zero".
Images of assistance to deportees with the Alarme Phone Sahara tricycle, Assamaka, 8th of October 2022:
Alarme Phone Sahara calls on other humanitarian organisations on the ground to also get involved in the rescue of exhausted and injured migrants, most of whom were subjected to violence by the Algerian authorities in the middle of the #Sahara!
In view of this situation, Alarme Phone Sahara demands:
- Deportations from Algeria, Libya and other countries must be stopped.
- The deportation agreement between Algeria and Niger, and all deportation agreements, must be cancelled.
- IOM should use its resources to support deportees who genuinely wish to return to their countries of origin.
- Support for migrants in distress must be guaranteed unconditionally and must not be dependent on agreeing to a so-called "voluntary return".
- The IOM must ensure that those received in its centres are provided with decent living conditions, including food, medical care, hygiene and accommodation.
- The state of Niger should continue to support its citizens who are deported from Algeria and other countries to return to their regions and communities of origin instead of abandoning them in distressing conditions.
- The countries of the sub-region must support their citizens who wish to return without complication, but must also take strong measures against the deportations and mistreatment of their citizens by the Maghreb and European countries.
- Stop the policies of outsourcing European borders to African soil!
- No to the new "working agreement" between FRONTEX and EUCAP Sahel Niger which aims to intensify the criminalisation and persecution of migration under the pretext of "fighting migrant trafficking and smuggling".