Repressed migrants: Niger demands explanations from Algeria

Relations between Niger and Algeria are strained due to the brutal practices inflicted on irregular migrants by the Algerian authorities.

Faced with this situation, Niger summoned the Algerian ambassador to express its dissatisfaction with the treatment of migrants. Indeed, the Nigerien military authorities have accused Algeria of practices “inhumane” towards sub-Saharan migrants in an irregular situation, and immediately summoned the Algerian ambassador, Saïd Moussa, to clarify the situation of the thousands of recently returned migrants.

According to military authorities, Algeria has intensified its operations in recent days, an observation also supported by the Alarm Phone Sahara Association in the first quarter of 2024. This source reported that more than 17,000 migrants have been returned from Algerian territory to the desert on the border with Niger. In addition, statistics reveal that in 2023, more than 26,000 people were recorded on Algerian territory.

Military authorities noted “massive raid operations”of the “ransacked homes” and the seizure of valuable objects by Algerian police forces. Also, the Nigerien authorities have expressed their dissatisfaction and are demanding an immediate end to this brutal treatment of sub-Saharan migrants.

However, Algeria considers these repatriation and refoulement operations of sub-Saharan migrants as measures aimed at maintaining public order. It remains to be seen whether the intervention of the military authorities will provide an appropriate solution to this situation.