On November 27, the Nigerien Army** revoked a 2015 law aimed at curbing migration through key routes in West African countries. While the EU warns that this decision could lead to an increase in the flow of migrants to Europe, the legalisation of migrant smuggling** in Niger could benefit the local economy.
The intersection between the African Sahel region and the Sahara Desert Agadez is the largest city in northern Niger and has long been a transit city for West African and Central African migrants.
After the collapse of tourism in Agadez due to terrorist activities, local businesses based on legal immigration flourished in the region.
Before the law was passed in 2015, taxi drivers, restaurants, and accommodation for migrants were easy to find, while weekly departures from Agadez to Libya or Algeria were escorted by military vehicles to stop possible attacks along the way. For them, immigration is a kind of **, and they earn a lot of money from it.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Treaty, the African Union allows nationals to walk on the continent as long as they have an identity document. In the first half of 2023, more than 60,000 migrants passed through Niger on their way to Libya and Algeria, according to the report provided by the International Organization for Migration.
At the same time, the immigration business in Agadez, Niger, became a clandestine activity. To avoid the authorities, smugglers began to take routes away from the main roads, which were longer, more isolated, and therefore more dangerous.
Migration has become dangerous because it is no longer under control and people are beginning to die in the desert without anyone knowing, according to data published by IOM between January and June 2023, no less than 570 migrants died along the migration route in the Sahara Desert.