‘Agadez has actually started to live once again’
Migrants and smugglers are returning after Niger rescinded its anti-migration law.
The history of Agadez, the ‘entrance to the Sahara’, is connected to the passage of traders and visitors [Marco Simoncelli/ Al Jazeera]
The history of Agadez, the ‘entrance to the Sahara’, is connected to the passage of traders and visitors [Marco Simoncelli/ Al Jazeera]
Agadez, Niger – Ousmane Kouyate * stands next to a fuel station on National Road 25 that goes through Agadez, more than 900km north of Niger’s capital Niamey.
The thin 25-year-old from Guinea is a “passeur” – a travel representative or, for a few of the migrants and refugees travelling through the city, a smuggler arranging their journey to the Mediterranean on their method to European coasts.
Using sunglasses and earphones under a baseball cap, he appears mindful and alert, despite the fact that he no longer requires to conceal.
In 2016, Niger’s previous federal government, under heavy pressure from the European Union, enacted questionable Law 2015-36, which criminalised the transport of irregular migrants northwards.
With the July 2023 coup, things started to alter.
By November, the brand-new military federal government – the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, or CNSP – rescinded the law, efficiently decriminalising Kouyate’s trade.
“Hosting and transferring migrants has actually ended up being regular once again,” the young passeur states, with an air of satisfaction.