Northern Niger: Doctors Without Borders warns of the fate of 4600 migrants in Assamaka

The location of Assamaka, in northeastern Niger. © FMM Studio

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2 min

In Assamaka, northern Niger, nearly 4,600 sub-Saharan migrants who had been expelled into the desert by Algerian authorities are living in "unacceptable hygienic conditions". "They lack food, they lack water, they lack a lot of things, they lack almost everything," said Boulama Elhadji Gori, MSF's deputy head of mission in the country.

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In Niger, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is sounding the alarm on the plight of sub-Saharan migrants. Since January 2023, after being deported into the desert by Algerian authorities, 4,600 people have arrived on foot in Assamaka, a city in the northern region of Agadez.

But only a few hundred have been able to benefit from shelter or emergency assistance. Most have taken refuge in the integrated health centre in Assamaka, which is now overwhelmed.

MSF's deputy head of mission in Niger, Boulama Elhadji Gori, calls on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to help its nationals.

"Some find themselves in unacceptable hygienic conditions"

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It is about a little less than five thousand people who are now accumulated in Assamaka. It is an area of intervention of Doctors Without Borders, where we assist expelled migrants or pedestrian migrants with non-food kits, free health care, and so today, given the size of the village – Assamaka is a small village – this population is found either inside the health center or nearby, "he explains at the microphone of Alexandra Brangeon.

He continues: "And so most are not there for health reasons, but they are seeking shelter, and often in unacceptable living conditions. Some of them end up in areas of waste, in unacceptable hygienic conditions. They lack food, they lack water, they lack many things, they lack almost everything.

Boulama Elhadji Gori, however, continues: "This situation is not a new situation. What we noticed is that in Assamaka we are not the only actors, there is also the IOM [the International Organization for Migration, Editor's note] which very often organizes repatriation convoys to repatriate these migrants to Arlit, Agadez. In recent times, we have noticed a slowdown in their activity, and as a result the number of migrants continues to increase. While the new ones continue to arrive, the old ones are still on site, which creates the overflows.

► Read also: A new wave of more than 600 migrants turned back from Algeria arrives in Niger

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• Niger
• Health and medicine