African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, January 2010, 123133 En route to Europe: the perilous journey of African migrants across the Sahara desert A photographic essay 1 Alfredo Bini* Since the beginning of 2009, about 10,000 migrants have crossed the Tenere Desert (south central Sahara) each month in search of an elusive European El Dorado, Italy in particular. This is the biggest migrant flow of the last six years, and not even the war for uranium between the Tuareg rebels of the Niger Justice Movement (MNJ) and the Niger army, which began in the spring of 2007, has slowed the pace of migration. 2 The migrants travel from sub-sahara Africa: Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Mali, the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria, as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Sudan, and the Horn of Africa. Increasingly, migrants from Asia are using this migration route. 3 Some stay in the cities to earn some money; only then do they cross the desert to the oasis of Dirkou, the departure point for Libya. 4 A good number of them succeed in reaching Al Gatrun, the first Libyan oasis after the Niger border, but those without money will be stranded, trapped, in Dirkou. 5 Amongst their number are those who have been robbed, some who have miscalculated the transit fees due at the control posts manned by racketeers, and others who simply do not have the means to move on. Working until such a time as their employer sees fit to pay them is the only way to scrape together the t114.50 necessary to continue with the journey. Many migrants adapt by doing any kind of work, but for some the thought of being exploited and abandoned can prevent resistance, condemning them to a long period of slavery. The women are forced to accept even more unpleasant compromises: working and providing sexual favors or going to work directly in one of the three local brothels, where each appointment is worth t2.30. There were about 7,000 people in Dirkou in early April 2009. Official statistics set the mortality rate caused by the harsh traveling conditions at about 12%. *Email: info@alfredobini.com ISSN 1752-8631 print/issn 1752-864X online # 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/17528630903368174 http://www.informaworld.com
124 A. Bini Conakry Countries Major destination countries Countries of emigration (own nationals), immigration and transit. Migration routes Major overland routes Other overland routes Maritime routes Places National capitals Important migration hubs Canary Islands (Spain) Dakhla Dakar Freetown Madeira (Portugal) Strait of Gibraltar Tarfaya Laayoune Zouérat Nouadhibou Atar Nouakchott Kayes Casablanca Oujda Rabat Bamako Agadir Nioro Lisbon Tindouf Tanger Ceuta (Sp.) Mopti Dublin Adrar Tessalit Madrid Malaga Maghnia Gao Ghardaïa Niamey Ouagadougou London Melilla (Sp.) Alger Tunis Sokoto Paris Ouargla Agadez Ghadames Tamanghasset Arlit Amsterdam Berlin Brussels Marseille Barcelona Rome Sardinia Balearic Islands Palermo Djanet Zinder Kano Milan Tripoli Bilma Overland and maritime migration routes to North Africa, the Middle East and Western Europe Naples Sicily MALTA Zliten Sabha Lampedusa ( It.) N'Djamena Crete Benghazi Mediterranean Sea Alexandria Kufra Faya (Largeau) Abéché Cairo Selima Aswan Port Sudan Atbara Red Sea Khartoum Asmara Addis Ababa Kuwait City Jeddah Riyadh San'a Djibouti Persian Gulf Doha Abu Dhabi Gulf of Aden Boosaaso Monrovia 0 355 710 Miles 0 355 710 KM Abidjan NB Côte d Ivoire has recently lost much of its former position of West Africa s main immigration country. Map made by Hein de Haas, International Migration Institute, James Martin 21st Century School, University of Oxford. This map is made on the basis of information compiled from various academic studies, policy reports and media sources. The map shows main overland and maritime migration routes, excludes air links, and does not depict country-to-country migration flows. Accra Lagos Libreville Yaoundé Brazzaville Bangui Kinshasa Mogadishu Source: de Haas, Hein (2007) The Myth of Invasion: Irregular Migration from West Africa to the Maghreb and the European Union, International Migration Institute, University of Oxford
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African and Black Diaspora 133 Notes 1. Editors note. The photos document the experiences of African migrants in Niger leaving Naimey for Agadez and going through the Tenere Desert and the Dirkou oasis to reach Libya. Some of the images used in this article also appeared at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ africa/8141356.htm/ 2. The European public is subjected to a barrage of apocalyptic images of massive outflows of African migrants and refugees fleeing ethnic conflicts and grinding poverty across the vast swath of sub-sahara Africa. Clearly, the growing migration is caused by several civil wars in West and Central Africa as well as the economic decline of the region. This migration is also a reflection of a persistent demand for migrant labor in Europe, which has induced more and more Africans to cross the Mediterranean since 2000. As geographer Hein de Hass has shown, the total number of successful irregular crossings by sub-saharan Africans should be counted on the order of several tens of thousands, according to our estimates, 25,000 to 35,000 per year, which is only a fraction of the total EU immigration of 2.6 million in 2004 (Hass 2008, p. iii). 3. In recent years, migrants from China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have joined Africans crossing from the West African coast to the Canary Islands, while others follow the trans-saharan route to Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco to get to Europe. According to an interview given by Antonio Mazzitelli, the representatives for the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime in Dakar, Senegal, A new route has opened up... More and more, West Africa is the hub for immigrants from other regions of the world, and especially Southeast Asians. New York Times, February 2007. 4. Libya is an important destination country in its own right. Those who are unable to cross the Mediterranean prefer to stay there or in other North African countries. 5. Dirkou oasis is the last sub-saharan stop on one of the continent s greatest, and possibly most dangerous, migration routes: migrants travel hundreds of miles through desert to arrive here and board Libyan trucks that take them across the remaining expanses of the Sahara into North Africa. There the migrants stay to work, or they save up the money to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. The growing trans-sahara migration has increased economic activities in Dirkou; as a transit area for people and goods, it is one of the main gateway points from the Sahel region to North Africa. Although only a small oasis, Dirkou has expanded considerably to make space for makeshift markets and desert nightlife. Reference Hass, H., 2008. The myth of invasion: Irregular migration from West Africa to the Maghreb and the European Union. International Migration Institute, Oxford University, October 2007.