Latest news

At least 8 migrants died in the border region between Algeria and Morocco between December 2018 and 5th of February 2019.

A report in French on mediapart.fr on the installation of biometric tools as part of "Midas" - the system of information and analysis on data concerning migration - at border checkpoints of Niger republic.

© Francesco Bellina

"Midas" is financed by the EU in collaboration with Japan and set up by the IOM - creator and owner of the Midas system - together with Eucap Sahel, the "civil security" mission of the EU in the Sahel countries.

Thursday, 14th of March 2019, the team of Alarme Phone Sahara whistle blowers from Bilma participated in the rescue of a group of 25 persons who had been in distress in the desert for several days due to a breakdown of their vehicule. The people concerned were citizens of Niger on their way for seasonal migration to Libya.

Parce que la mobilité est un droit pour tous. Notre association Alarme Phone Sahara est présente sur le terrain. Elle apporte son message d'amour, de solidarité aux migrants (es) en transit pour la Libye à travers le grand et dangereux désert du ténéré.

According to reports from Niger from 5th of March, Somalian, Ethipian and Eritrean refugees, who were pushed back or evacuated from Libya, held a demonstration in Niamey, the capital of Niger Republic. According to the reports, these people had applied for asylum, but see themselves in a situation where they are blocked in Niger, and protested against the way their cases are treated by the UNHCR and the state of Niger, calling for a solution. According to the reports, the police of Niger dispersed the protest using tear gas.

Migrants band refugees pushed back from Algeria to the desert in the border region between Algeria and Niger republic, near the border town of Assamakah.

"We ask again and again UNHR about our case, but no solution."

Besides people blocked in transit in Niger or pushed back from Algeria, there is a rising number of refugees in Agadez/Niger who have applied for asylum in Niger republic and who are living in camps run by UNHCR or by NGOs collaborating with UNHCR. Most of them are Sudanese from Darfur region.

At 6 o' clock in the morning of 11th of March, Morrocan authorities carried out house raids in the city of Oujda in neigbourhoods where migrants are living.

According to the authorities, 81 migrants, called "candidates for clandestine migration" are in custody at the police station of Oujda. The people concerned are from different countries of subsaharean Africa, among them, according to the authorities, 26 women and 7 minors. Among others, there is one anglophone family - a woman and a man with their two kids. There are also people who have been arrested although they have residency cards in Morocco.

A report on Al Jazeera on the case of at least 30 refugees and migrants who were tortured in Libya in March 2019 after having fled from a detention centre and holding a protest in the city of Tripolis in March 2019.