Niger has announced plans to temporarily accommodate around 4,000 migrants recently expelled from neighbouring Algeria, aiming to provide humanitarian aid before facilitating their return to their home countries. This operation, scheduled to take place between now and July, will be conducted with support from the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM), the governor of Niger’s northern Agadez region, Ibrah Boulama, told state television on Saturday.
The move comes in response to a significant increase in migrants being pushed back from Algeria in recent weeks. Boulama warned of an “unprecedented wave of pushbacks” in April alone, which led to overcrowding in shelters set up by IOM in the border town of Assamaka, where over 6,000 migrants have been recorded arriving.
Algeria, a key transit country for many migrants heading toward Europe, has a history of expelling irregular migrants, particularly from Niger and other African nations. Since 2014, these expulsions have been a recurring challenge for Niger, which is governed by a military regime that has been in power for nearly two years. The Nigerien authorities expressed concern that the large influx of expelled migrants could exacerbate domestic security issues.
Last year alone, Algeria expelled more than 31,000 migrants into Niger, according to figures from the Nigerien NGO Alarme Phone Sahara. Niger’s current plan aims to manage the latest arrivals humanely and avoid a potential humanitarian crisis in the desert border region.