Libya: Fleeing Nigerian, Ghanaian migrants flood Niger

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Headlines Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

Nigerian and Ghanaian migrants fleeing form violence in Libya have reportedly arrived in Agadez, Niger Republic, on a truck.

eports had it that Niger’s city of Agadez had been transformed from a bustling trade hub in the middle of the Sahara desert into a refugee centre for the thousands of African migrants fleeing the violence in Libya.

According to reports monitored on British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), for the last two months, a large convoy of trucks had been driving into town each week, with the flow now eased to about 10 vehicles packed with between 1,500 and 3,000 people.

Figures from the beginning of May put the number of migrant arrivals over the Sahara from Libya at 65,000.

The figure said to be more than six times the number of migrants had landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa from Libya in the same period.

The atmospheric heat in Niger already risen to 48-degree was said to have caused exhaustion of fleeing migrants consequent upon their gruelling trip.

Many of them were said to be thirsty and hungry as they unloaded the luggage they managed to bring with them on the journey which took them more than a week.

A Ghana refugee, Ibrahim Harun Hafiz, recounting his experience said: “On our way, we saw a truck that caught fire, all of its occupants got burned.

“On our way, we saw a truck that caught fire, all of its occupants got burned. Next, we found another truck which had had an accident in which 40 people died straight away, while many got severe injuries.”

Another, Abdulaziz Abdullah, a Ghanaian mechanic who worked for four years in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, said: “The journey is between life and death. Many people did not make it to Niger because of hunger.

“If I showed you a [recent] photo of myself, you wouldn’t recognise me. But I thank God I’m alive, though I’ve lost everything.”

He said he decided to join the convoys heading south after his home, near a military camp in Tripoli, but was bombed on March 28 and he lost all his workshop equipment.

The trucks transporting the migrants was organised by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Tripoli and various West African embassies who liaised with the Libyan authorities to guarantee their safety for the trip.

-Tribunewp_posts