Has Mauritania become a magnet for migrants from the Sahel countries?

Ambra camp in Mauritania is inhabited by more than 100,000 refugees from Mali (social networking sites)

In more than one international summit, the Mauritanian authorities expressed their deep concern and security concerns about the increase in refugees from the Sahel region, which is witnessing security tensions due to military coups and the activity of separatist and armed movements.

At a distance of 1,500 kilometers east of the capital, Nouakchott, and within a geographical area of ​​no more than a few kilometers in desert and barren land, the “Ambra Camp” is located in the state of Hodh Al-Sharqi, which is inhabited by more than 100,000 refugees from the state of Mali, who left their homeland due to the dangerous security conditions that their country has experienced for the past year. 2012.

This camp is not the only gathering of displaced people from Mali and the Sahel region. Rather, it comes second after the capital, Nouakchott, where accurate statistics are not available about its residents.

The increase in migrants from the Sahel countries is a source of inconvenience to the authorities in Nouakchott, who have begun to sound the alarm and summon international partners concerned with the migration issue, in order to help place migrants in appropriate conditions to avoid the risk of crime and security instability, of which poverty is one of the first causes.

The number of immigrants from the Sahel countries in Mauritania is constantly increasing (Al Jazeera)

Increasing numbers of refugees

While in Mauritania, 56.9% of the population of about 5 million live in a state of multidimensional poverty in terms of lack of education, health, living conditions, and lack of employment opportunities, the suffering of the population is getting worse due to the influx of people displaced from the scourge of wars in the Sahel region of West Africa.

The number of migrants from the Sahel countries in Mauritania has increased from 57,000 migrants in 2019 to more than 112,000 in 2023.

On January 2, the United Nations World Food Program announced that it expects more than 100,000 additional refugees to arrive from northern Mali, due to the tense situation between the Azawad movements and the Malian government.

According to the organization, the refugees will arrive in multiple batches in the first half of this year to Hodh al-Sharqi state on the Malian border.

The World Food Program warned of the danger of pressure on the local population, which suffers from scarcity of resources and a high rate of poverty, and that harassing the local population could cause chaos and tension with the Azawadians who fled due to armed conflicts.

At a time when some specialized studies talk about the presence of 17 million people in the Sahel and Sahara region preparing to migrate, some European organizations see Mauritania as an alternative homeland for immigrants.

At the migration summit held in Rome in mid-2023, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani said that Mauritania is an arrival area for migrants, and it is also a transit area towards Spain and European countries.

Ould Ghazouani added at the same conference that his country hosts 100,000 refugees from Mali alone, in addition to other numbers from different countries.

Help from partners

In December 2023, Mauritania asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to take care of about 50,000 refugees who came from Mali after the events that took place in the Kidal region, the stronghold of the Azawadians.

During his participation in the Global Refugee Forum, which was held in December 2023 in Geneva, Mauritanian Minister of Economy Abdelkader Ould Mohamed Saleh said, “The refugee situation at the present time is different from previous years, as security developments and instability in the Sahel region pushed tens of thousands towards migration.” From their countries.

The Mauritanian Minister stressed the need to mobilize financial resources and support from partners to obtain $240 million to provide the basic conditions for the integration requirements.

Mauritania intends to provide education to refugees as the first tool to establish a culture of peace and avoid violence.

Nouakchott receives support from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme, in order to continue humanitarian aid, and the European Union contributes intensive support to absorb refugees and provide livelihoods, because Mauritania is considered a transit area for illegal immigration towards Europe.

In October 2023, the Mauritanian president met with a delegation from the European Union in Nouakchott in order to develop a joint action map on the migrant problem. The European delegation confirmed that it had recently provided Nouakchott with 600 million euros.

Mauritanian authorities warn that the influx of thousands of refugees may cause a humanitarian disaster (Al Jazeera)

Fears of chaos

Mauritania is trying to contain the waves of immigrants who consider it an arrival zone by trying to integrate them into life through training, creating job opportunities, and directing young people towards the gateway to education.

It also works to confront migrants who consider it a transit zone by strengthening border control and distributing checkpoints to various security and military formations.

Despite all these efforts, refugees are a source of concern for the Mauritanian government, as the migration axis puts its security and stability at stake.

The Mauritanian government had previously accused African immigrants of participating in acts of violence and sabotage during the riots that occurred after the presidential elections in 2019, after which the authorities arrested residents of African nationalities (Mali, Ivory Coast, and Senegal), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the ambassadors of the countries whose citizens participated in those acts of sabotage. According to her saying.

In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, Mauritanian President Ould Ghazouani said that migrants and refugees have cost Mauritania high prices, especially with regard to borders, security and stability.

Speaking about immigration problems, Ould Ghazouani added that the large influx of refugees makes it difficult to identify terrorists.

In the state of Hodh Al-Sharqi in Mauritania, where the Ambara camp for Malian refugees is located, the mayor of the “charged” municipality of Baskenou district said that the influx of thousands of refugees into the state may cause a humanitarian disaster.

The mayor confirmed that his municipality has become unable to provide services, due to the huge amount of Azawadi people who have flocked to the region, and are crowding out the indigenous population at water points and pasture areas.

In recent years, incidents occurred between Malian militants and Mauritanian citizens on the outskirts of the border, and a number of Mauritanians fell victim to these incidents.

The Nouakchott government is working to create a space for stability among the residents of the shared border areas between Mali and Mauritania, for interconnection between the residents, and the importance of working to secure the vast desert borders threatened by armed groups.

Source: Al Jazeera