As the EU is accused of outsourcing cruelty to reduce Mediterranean crossings, the largest known deportation of people back to Niger to date takes place – writes The Guardian.
It is believed to be one of the biggest deportations from the North African nation ever recorded, over 600 people were forcibly deported from Libya on a “dangerous and traumatizing” journey across the Sahara.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a convoy of trucks carrying 613 Nigerien nationals arrived in the Nigerian desert town of Dirkou last weekend. Over the past month, Libyan authorities have rounded up a significant number of migrant workers, including them.
Italy has signed agreements with Tunisia and Libya to reduce Mediterranean crossings, and the expulsions come as EU nations have been accused of ignoring the pervasive and systematic abuses and violations of human rights against migrants in Libya in their efforts to lower the number of people entering Europe. The Italian interior ministry reports that less than half as many people—66,317– arrived in Italy in 2024 as in 2023.
“This is Europe’s border policy exposed, outsourcing mass expulsion and death to Libya, where the desert becomes a graveyard,” stated David Yambio, spokesman for the nonprofit organization Refugees in Libya.
The EU funds efforts to eradicate migrants, hide suffering, and clean its hands while others carry out its filthy tasks.
The trip from Libya to Niger across the Sahara was “dangerous and traumatizing.” The desert is extremely cold in the winter, and when migrants are crammed into trucks like sardines, fights for the most comfortable spots may break out, causing people to fall out and break limbs. People will be in a very sorry state when they get to Agadez, Niger.
The Hated Migrant Workers
The periodic roundup and expulsion of foreign workers has been “something of a tradition in southern Libya since even during the time of Gadafi,” according to Jalel Harchaoui, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and an expert on Libya. However, this incident was noteworthy and unique due to the large number of people expelled at once.
“This is just local authorities catching people up; there hasn’t been any official announcement or clear policy. However, there is frequently a propensity to demonize foreigners, especially those from sub-Saharan Africa, in the rhetoric of the Haftar coalition [the Libyan National Army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar], which primarily controls Sabha [a city in southern Libya where they were deported from].
For many years, people from Niger, Mali, and Chad have migrated to southern Libya in search of employment in industries like retail, construction, and agriculture. Others come here to work so they can go to the coast and board a smuggler’s boat to Europe. A UNHCR spokesperson stated that the organization was “ready to support IOM, particularly in identifying and supporting individuals who may be in need of international protection” and that it thought more groups of migrants were arriving from Libya. Numerous lives are still being destroyed by the Middle East conflict. Millions of people worldwide have been haunted by the horrifying images from Israel and Gaza since October 7, 2023, and the crisis is still being felt strongly throughout the region.
It is more crucial than ever to comprehend what is taking place and what will happen next.