Since last April, six hundred migrants have been rescued in the desert, but another 52 have died, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Three months ago, the UN agency launched a new relief and assistance project for migrants in the Agadez region (MIRAA). The 12-month project aims to protect migrants in hard-to-reach areas. “We are strengthening our capacity to help vulnerable migrants stranded in northern Agadez to the Niger-Libya border”, said Giuseppe Loprete, IOM mission chief in Niger, in a statement released on Tuesday.
Recently, several migrants have been found abandoned by smugglers fleeing the controls of Niger’s security forces. “We were in the desert for ten days. After five days, the driver abandoned us. He left with all our possessions, saying he would pick us up in a few hours, but he never did”, said a 22-year-old Nigerian survivor who was found during a rescue mission on May 28. She was one of six survivors on a group of 50 people, the IOM press release said. “We had to drink our own urine to survive”, she said.
Four days ago, 23 migrants of different nationalities were saved. They were part of a group of 75 migrants embarked in three different vehicles and eventually abandoned by their smugglers during their journey. From a security source, several corpses were buried by agents of the Republican guard stationed in Séguedine with the support of the population. But other migrants are still missing.
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