Niger

"It is therefore estimated that hundreds of thousands of refugees from Mali have suddenly swept to Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger since 2012. I’m impressed by the quick response of these countries and international organizations, assisted by NGOs, which have managed to organize the reception of migrants while avoiding conflicts with the equally impoverished populations in the host countries. I’m thinking of the vast M’bera camp in Mauritania. If we roughly add the town-dwelling refugees in Nouakchott to those in M’bera, Mauritania, which has 3 million inhabitants, has welcomed over 100,000 refugees. A number pretty much on a par with that here in Niger (17 million inhabitants), where we count town-dwelling refugees in Niamey and those in the Intikane, Abala, Mangaïze and Ayorou camps.

At the same time, migrants – so it seems – invade the territory of our European Union which counts over 500 million nationals, comparatively far wealthier than the Sahel inhabitants. Regarding the welcoming of refugees from the South, the general alarm of decision-makers north of the Mediterranean could almost be laughable. The only thing is that their measures – more for security than humanitarian purposes, turning migrants into illegal immigrants – have tragic consequences. Europe, and France in particular, seems to ignore the responsibilities that fall upon it. After our coup de force in Libya, we are no strangers to the destabilization of the whole sub-region, and the inflow of displaced persons from all directions."

Extract from Retour à Tombouctou, 2015, Éditions Gallimard