By Enyichukwu Enemanna
No fewer than 847 migrants largely made up of Nigeriens have arrived their country after they were denied entry into Algeria by border security agents on Thursday.
Among those returned include 40 women and 74 children.
A source who pleaded anonymity confirmed that the 74 unaccompanied children “are already being taken care of” by the services of the Ministry of Child Protection.
“Regarding the situation of the returnees from Algeria, we have a total of 847 people including 40 women and 74 unaccompanied children. These people have already arrived in Agadez,” it added.
A humanitarian source confirmed “the arrival earlier this week in Niger of “some 800 migrants” after their expulsion by the Algerian authorities who “escorted them to the Nigerian border”.
She said the returnees will be able to receive medical care and basic necessities.
Algeria has expelled tens of thousands of irregular migrants from West and Central Africa since 2014, according to the United Nations.
“I was with others (children) at the home of a lady to whom we paid every day what we earned begging. She told me that she sent this money to my mother every month,” Sahabi, a Nigerien child sent back to Agadez in June after being arrested by the police in Algiers where he was begging, told UNICEF.
Some of these migrants are trying to survive in Algeria, while many are mainly trying to reach Europe.
Algerian and international NGOs have often accused the authorities in Algiers of arbitrarily arresting and collectively deporting sub-Saharan Africans, sometimes leaving them without food or water in the desert.
Algeria, which has no asylum legislation, regularly denies these accusations, saying it is a “malicious campaign.”
