Expulsions in Algeria leave 11 migrants dead from thirst in desert: summary

What we know

• 11 migrants have died in the last two months in the Algerian desert after they were expelled from the country.

• On May 12, a Malian was found unconscious in the region known as "Point Zero" in the Sahara desert. Seven bodies were found two days earlier, according to Alarm Phone Sahara, an association offering assistance to migrants transiting the desert.

• Since the expulsion of migrants from Algeria, arbitrary arrests have been launched against black people incessantly in Algeria. According to Alarm Phone Sahara, black people are arrested in their apartments or workplaces and even on the streets.
• For years, authorities in Algiers have been abandoning migrants, primarily from sub-Saharan Africa, in the middle of the Sahara Desert, near the Ténéré region. Alarm Phone Sahara teams, located in Agadez, Assamaka, Arlit, Niamey, and the Kawar region (along the route to Libya), report that 10,000 migrants have already been expelled since the start of the year.

• Alarm Phone Sahara documented the abandonments and the resulting arrivals in Niger on X (formerly known as Twitter). On April 26, 2024, it was reported that 647 people arrived in Assamaka and on April 21, 262 migrants arrived in Assamaka.
• Reports also indicate domino deportations including the mass deportation of sub-Saharan Africans from Tunisia to Libya and Algeria.
• Niger's junta in April summoned the Algerian ambassador over the deportation of migrants to Niger when deputy secretary general of the Nigerien Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oumar Ibrahim Sidi, met with the Algerian diplomat to formally convey the highest Nigerien authorities' protest against the violent methods employed by the Algerian security services in these operations.

• According to the UN migration agency's Missing Migrants Project, over 2,000 migrants have died while crossing the Sahara Desert since 2014. However, the actual number is likely much higher, as many incidents in remote areas go unrecorded. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) highlights that migrants face numerous risks in the desert, such as extreme heat, dehydration, starvation, exposure, illness, and lack of access to healthcare.

What they said

Detailing the tragedies witnessed in the Sahara desert frequently, the coordinator of Alarm Phone Sahara, Azizou Chehou, said "They must not have been able to stand the heat. They must have also been exhausted and without water. We did not find any documents on them, so we weren't able to identify them. We are only in May, if the trend continues, we risk exceeding the 2023 figure of 23,000 deported."