Niger: the Migrants’ Odyssey

There are thousands of migrants stuck in Niger trying to return to their homes elsewhere in Africa. The United Nations estimates the number of people in this country at about 7,000 since late July, when the army overthrew the former president, Mohamed Bazoum. Then Niger's military junta closed the airspace and other countries in the region closed border crossings as part of economic and travel sanctions, making it difficult for people to leave.

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After months of crossing the desert and watching other migrants die at sea trying in vain to reach Europe, some migrants have given up on the idea of ​​crossing the Mediterranean and decided to return home.

Some migrants from Sierra Leone arrived in Niger in June in their return journey, but UN officials said they had to wait until overcrowded migrant centers were empty before they could return home.

Niger is an important route for Africans trying to reach Libya as a staging post to cross the Mediterranean to Europe and for those returning home with the help of the United Nations.

Al-Jazeera met a young man from Sierra Leone who told his story that he left his country in June due to political turmoil and was hoping to reach Germany. He moved between the countries of the region until his arrival in Libya, where he boarded a boat with about 200 other migrants. The boat spent days at sea, and some of the people on board died before the Libyan Coast Guard intercepted them and returned them to Libya.

At that moment, the man had had enough, and he did not want to suffer anymore, so he decided to return home. With the help of aid groups, he made it to Niger, but was unable to go any further.

United Nations officials estimate that there are about 1,800 people currently in the same predicament as this young man, who still wander the streets of Niger because the centers run by the International Organization for Migration are too full to accommodate more. These centers accommodate about 5,000 people trying to return to their homes.

COOPI, an Italian aid organization providing shelter to migrants in the northern Niger town of Asmaka, near the border with Algeria, said that since the coup, an additional 1,300 people have entered its center trying to return home.

COOPI is helping the UN host these people, but has warned that food and water could run out if the borders are not opened soon.

Not only are the migrants unable to leave, but aid groups are unable to bring in food and medical supplies.

Morena Zuccheli, COOPI's head of mission in Niger, said they only have food stocks until the end of August and will run out of funding at the end of September.

"If the situation does not change, we cannot guarantee that things will continue," she said.

Before the coup, Niger had worked with the European Union to try to slow the flow of migrants north to Libya and Algeria. The bloc was to provide more than $200 million to Niger to help it face “security, social, economic and migration challenges.”

It is unclear how much cooperation the new military leaders in Niamey have with the European Union, which has now frozen aid to Niger. Anita Heber, spokeswoman for the European Commission, said on Wednesday, August 23rd that it cannot be certain that cooperation on migration has been suspended, saying only that the European Union will continue to "monitor and assess the situation."

Al Jazeera also spoke to another man from Liberia, who is trying to return home too. He says that many like him have nowhere to turn for help. He adds: “UN officials asked me to be patient.”

The 36-year-old has been lying on the ground in a street in Niamey, the capital of Niger, with his two daughters and wife since June, begging for food. He added, “Our children have no food to eat. I feel dizzy when I wake up in the morning.”