Reporting
Algeria: in Oran, the roundabouts of hope for African migrants
Saïdou and Abou, two Cameroonian migrants, looking for work at the Canastel roundabout in Oran, Algeria.
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Text by: RFI Follow
5 mins
In the city center of Oran, dozens of African migrants, who arrived in Algeria after long journeys, walk the Palais d'Or and Canastel roundabouts daily.
They hope to find work, earn money to leave the country and pursue their dream of reaching Europe.
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Their life is almost like the thousands of vehicles that enter these roundabouts, choose an exit, and continue on their way.
Except that for these migrants, the exit door from the galley is not easy to find.
They turn in circles.
Scattered around the Palais d'Or roundabout in the Algerian city of Oran, there are about ten African migrants waiting for a car to stop at their level.
Someone offers them a day's work that allows them to eat, stay, and, perhaps, save money to continue their journey to Europe.
For all these migrants, in fact, Algeria is only a stage in their quest for the European Eldorado.
But the road was long before arriving in Oran, and the rest of the way strewn with uncertainties.
Ibrahima Baldé, 21, has been in town for three months.
He left his village in Casamance, in southern Senegal, almost two years ago.
Leaving with 300,000 CFA (450 euros), he obviously spent everything going through “
Mauritania, the Sahara, Tindouf, Béchar
”.
“Go to France
” or “
to Spain
”
Today, the young Senegalese is waiting on the roundabout for someone to offer him work.
“
It can be help with DIY, masonry, moving, cleaning or handling
,” he explains.
At his side, Alpha Mohamed Diallo.
He arrived the same day in Oran and was "
lucky to meet
" Ibrahima.
“
Fortunately I met Ibrahima this morning, I didn't know where to go, what to do.
There, I follow him like his shadow
“, confides the lightly dressed Guinean in this chilly weather.
Originally from Mamou, a town 250 km northeast of the capital Conakry, Alpha left his home two months ago.
He passed through Mali and the desert before arriving in Algeria.
Like Ibrahima, his goal is to earn enough money to move to Europe.
"
I want to go to France
," he said.
“
And me, in Spain
,” Ibrahima replies.
Not far away, Mamadou Barry has his eyes riveted on passing cars in the hope of seeing one stop.
He needs to work quickly to pay his weekly rent, 2000 dinars (nearly 15 euros).
“
There, I'm tired, I don't even have money to buy me something to eat.
And even if I find work today, it will be paid between 1500 and 2000 dinars.
No more
.
»
Leaving from Kolda, in Senegal, Mamadou arrived in Oran last November, after a long journey: Timbuktu-Sevaré-Bordj Mokthar-Reggane-Adrar.
His goal is to go to Italy via Tunisia.
In the meantime, he hopes to be able to find a phone to call his family and reassure them.
"People here don't like black people"
At the Canastel roundabout, the decor is the same.
Migrants have also taken over this place located east of Oran.
Saïdou and Abou are Cameroonians.
The first comes from Douala, from the Bali district, the second from Yaoundé.
Abou is withdrawn, his hands in his pockets, his face tense.
He takes time before answering the questions, but ends up letting go, bitter: “
There are so many things that are not easy to say.
People here are racist, they don't like black people.
At the last place I was staying, black people were attacked with knives.
There were injuries to arms, hands, head.
I didn't have anything, but my friends went to the hospital to get stitched up.
Afterwards, when we went to the gendarmerie to complain, we were chased away.
Honestly, we expected more help in a country that calls itself Muslim.
»
As prompted by Abou's confession, Saïdou adds: “
When you get on the bus, some people hold their noses, open the windows or spray perfume.
Others block open seats so you don't sit next to them
.
»
The two young Cameroonians aged 22 and 23 met in Oran.
Saïdou has been there for a year.
He passed through the Far North of Cameroon, then through Nigeria, Niger, before entering Algeria.
He claims to have fled poverty in his country.
"I'm young, I want to work, earn money, get married
," he says, adjusting his cap.
In Cameroon, to save one million CFA francs, you need more than a year.
In Europe, in a month, or two, you can have them
, he tries to explain
.
But I am not fixated on Europe, if I can flourish in a North African country other than Algeria, I take it.
For Abou, on the other hand, there is no question of going to "
another Arab country
".
"
I want to enter Europe, I hope to get there as soon as possible,
he says.
I'm too tired
.
»
A car has just stopped.
The driver needs arms for port work.
The two Cameroonian friends and a Bissau-Guinean companion are on board for the day.
They will earn enough to eat tonight and pay their rent for a week.
Waiting for better days to get out of the roundabout for good.
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