ARLIT — Nearly 1,200 km (745 miles) from Niger’s capital, Niamey, the city of Arlit is famous for its uranium and for being a transit zone for migrants bound for Europe or North African countries, such as Algeria or Libya. There, far from his home, Adama Kafando, a 26-year-old from Burkina Faso, has been living in a makeshift ghetto.
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He left his country more than two years ago, with the goal of reaching Europe. Adama almost died during his first attempt, when he was saved by Algerian maritime guards in the Mediterranean Sea. Imprisoned in Algeria where he suffered various abuses, he was eventually released and dropped with other migrants a few kilometers from the Nigerien border.
Fatherless since he was 14, Adama doesn’t want to give up despite the danger that accompanies his migrant dream. His quest for a better life is all that matters, even if it means coming close to death.
Ironclad resilience
“The boat carrying the women and children aged 5 or 6 sank. There were no survivors. It haunts me at night. I often wake up abruptly, as if I’m being chased. This event really affected me,” the young man says in a hushed voice, looking into the distance as if reliving the scene of horror.
Yet Adama doesn’t intend to abandon his project and return to his native country.
“I’m convinced that there’s a better life in Europe for me.”
“No one leaves their homeland without reason,” he says with conviction, to justify his journey. “In my country there are armed terrorist groups and instability. I was in a lot of pain, it was hard. I’m convinced that there’s a better life in Europe for me,” says Adama, who would consider returning to Burkina Faso without having seen Europe a failure.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have been facing attacks by armed terrorist groups for the past decade. The sound of gun barrels have pushed millions of people to take the migration routes. For the most part, populations are moving to large urban centers within their own country.
In Burkina Faso, for example, the number of internally displaced people reached 2.2 million people as of Nov. 30, 2023, compared to 391,961 in Mali and 335,500 in Niger.
The agriculture sector impacted by droughts
In central Sahel, the semi-arid region of Africa south of the Sahara, the majority of the population works in agriculture and farming. On average, 78% of the region’s active population depends on these two sectors. This figure is significantly higher than the global average (27%), sub-Saharan Africa (53%) and states that are fragile and affected by conflicts (47%).
These are the main activities outside the major cities, although there is also gold mining in parts of Burkina Faso and Mali and uranium mining in parts of Niger. But agriculture and farming are strongly impacted by climate change. Floods, drought and poor distribution of rain push producers to leave their villages.
“We know that we will not have sufficient harvests to survive the rest of the year.”
“We are supposed to cultivate the land. It is difficult work under the scorching sun, and yet we know that we will not have sufficient harvests to survive the rest of the year,” says Mira, a woman who lives in a village in Niger’s Tahoua region, in a report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Mira’s husband had to cross the border to Nigeria, where he now works in the hope of earning enough to make up for insufficient harvests and feed his family.
Illegal migration to search for a better life
For Abdoul Razak Idrissa, of the Network of Journalists for Migration in Niger, the causes of migration in the Sahel countries are diverse.
“Many migrants flee their countries because of insecurity. There are also issues related to climate change that mean that young people in rural communities no longer have space to farm. But when they move to urban centers, there is no work, and they are forced to leave,” he said at a debate organized by Studio Yafa in July 2023 on the topic.
“Because of climate change and bad governance, young Africans can’t stay.”
Ousmane Diarra, president of the Malian Association of Expellees, had a similar answer when speaking to Studio Tamani in Mali in December 2023: “Because of climate change and bad governance, young Africans can’t stay. They want to leave to seek a better future elsewhere. This is what leads, among other things, to illegal migration.”
Dr Fodé Tandjigoura, a specialist in migration issues in Mali, adds that the failure of educational systems in the Sahel also contributes to young people’s desire to leave home. “School no longer systematically leads to social advancement. Young people see their elders in France or Spain and look at them as an example of success,” he told Studio Tamani.
According to a report by the UN International Organization for Migration and the African Union on reasons for migration, economic issues topped the list for 93% of 534 migrants surveyed from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The report also found that most of the migratory phenomena in Sahel countries take place in the West African sub-region.
The recent repeal of a law against migrant smuggling in Niger may be redrawing the routes of migratory flows — but not the causes.
