AGADEZ CARREFOUR DES MIGRATIONS TRANSSAHARIENNES (NIGER)

Abstract

The strategic position between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa makes Niger a land of intense mobility for the departure and transit of many migrants whose significant flow came from all the countries of West Africa. The geopolitical context currently dominated by insecurity in the eastern part of Niger and northern Nigeria (war imposed by the nebula Boko Haram); and the instability of bordering countries in north-west (Mali) and north-east (Libya) are pushing populations to seek refuge by mass migration (more than 60% of migrants to the Maghreb and Europe go through Niger according to the International Organization for Migration) and irregularly to the major mining and gold mining cities of northern Niger (Agadez, Arlit, Djado and Dirkou) which are the gateways to the country of North Africa and then to the Mediterranean in order to reach the European countries. In addition to the security problems, there is the problem of food and land insecurity that forces the populations of the region of Agadez and Africa to migrate to the countries of the south. All migrants from African countries located south of the Sahara and black Africa transit through the city of Agadez (Niger), the main city at the door of the Sahara. Agadez has become since the 1990s a crossroads of trans-Saharan migration. Most of the migrants who go through it have one goal, to reach Europe.