Algeria has forcibly returned more than 16,000 irregular African migrants to Niger since April, an official source told AFP on Wednesday. This figure accounts for over half of the total expulsions carried out by Algeria last year.
Algeria has long been a transit point for migrants from neighbouring Niger and other African countries attempting to reach Europe. The practice of pushing back irregular migrants has been frequent over the past decade.
On June 1 and 2, a total of 1,466 migrants arrived at the border town of Assamaka in northern Niger, according to local authorities in the nearby city of Arlit. The group arriving on Sunday included 688 migrants from over a dozen West African nations, among them 239 Nigeriens. The following day, 778 Nigeriens — including 222 minors — were returned on 13 trucks and a van.
In May, Algerian authorities expelled 8,086 migrants, including 5,287 Nigeriens and 2,799 other Africans, according to official counts. April saw the return of 6,737 individuals. Together, these two months represent more than half of the 31,000 migrants Algeria has expelled in 2024.
Local NGO Alarm Phone Sahara has condemned the expulsions, describing the conditions as “brutal” and calling for an immediate end to the round-ups and mass deportations. The group raised concerns over violations of migrants’ rights.
Meanwhile, Nigerien authorities announced in mid-May plans to repatriate some 4,000 migrants to their home countries by July to prevent “a humanitarian disaster” in northern Niger. This effort complements ongoing repatriation operations by the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).
General Mohamed Toumba, Niger’s interior minister under the military government, stated that the pushbacks were destabilising the country’s “security balance.” Last November, Niger’s junta repealed a 2015 law that criminalised migrant trafficking.