Corruption stymies Niger's attempts to stem flow of migrants to Europe
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Version 0 of 1. In the desert town of Agadez in central Niger, almost anyone can point out the smugglers’ compounds where African migrants lie low before heading for Europe. Almost anyone, except the police. At a checkpoint on the outskirts of town, police officers turn a blind eye as dozens of smugglers’ trucks packed with migrants drive past at nightfall. This happens every Monday as convoys start the three-day trek across the desert to Libya. “We cannot stop the migrant trucks. They do not pass by here,” says one of the policemen, gesturing vaguely into the blackness. “They go around us, far off in the desert.” After two migrant trucks pass, a turbaned fixer hired by a smuggler to pay off the police gets back on his scooter and drives away, his work done. A confidential government report into illegal migration in Agadez concluded that corruption was so entrenched here that to tackle migrant smuggling would require replacing almost all military and police officials. Related: Justine Greening: The days of ignoring poverty because it's far away are over A record 100,000 migrants are expected to cross Niger this year into Libya, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), taking advantage of the chaos that has given smugglers an open door to Europe. The EU believes just over half the migrants arriving in Italy travel first through Niger. More than 1,800 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean this year alone and Europe is looking to Niger for action. Last month, President Mahamadou Issoufou’s government passed a tough anti-migrant smuggling law that establishes prison terms of up to 30 years for smugglers. It said this was to protect vulnerable young Africans. Not only are many migrants exploited by smugglers, falling victim to forced labour or prostitution, but others die in the desert when they are abandoned there, or when vehicles break down. Officials in Niger, ranked as the world’s poorest country by the UN, know that implementing the new law means cracking down on endemic graft in a country where a young policeman earns less than $190 a month. “For a truck of illegal migrants to cross Niger and reach Libya, many officials must turn a blind eye,” said Goge Maimouna Gazibo, head of Niger’s National Agency for the Fight Against People Smuggling (ANLTP). “From now on, any official who allows a bus to cross a border will be considered guilty of smuggling and corruption,” Gazibo added. Niger has tried before to curb migration. After 92 migrants were found dead in the desert in 2013, the government launched raids on several smugglers’ compounds, known as “ghettos”, and replaced a handful of police officers. Migrants and smugglers say they are obliged to bribe police, in a racket worth millions of dollars a year Two years on, little has changed. Flows from countries like Gambia, Senegal, Nigeria, Mali and Ghana are higher than ever. Migrants and smugglers say they are obliged to bribe police, in a racket worth millions of dollars a year. On the road north from Niger’s capital Niamey, police systematically took migrants aside at checkpoints to demand payment. Although citizens of west African countries have the right to travel in Niger, many migrants say they prefer not to show their identity papers for fear they will be confiscated by corrupt police. “If they stop you, you have to pay,” said Lamine Bandaogo, a lean 17-year-old fleeing Burkina Faso, as he stood in a bus depot on the route to Agadez. Bribes range between $2 and $20. “If you have nothing, you must beg forgiveness.” Since winning power in 2011, Issoufou has made some progress in the fight against corruption. Niger has risen to 103rd in Transparency International’s 2014 survey of graft perceptions, from 134th (of 175) the year he took office. Yet some people question whether security forces are ready to forego lucrative revenues from migration. A confidential 2013 national police report concluded that Agadez, which acts as a gateway to the north, was an “El Dorado” for security forces. It found there were more than 70 smugglers’ ghettos active in the town, each one protected by a paid police agent. A separate report by the Halcia anti-corruption agency said that payments to security forces and local authorities totalled $450 per vehicle and $30 per foreign migrant on the route between Agadez and the Libyan border. The Halcia mission also found that bribes paid by migrants were essential to keep the security forces functioning as money earmarked in the military budget to buy diesel for vehicles, spare parts and food simply disappeared in Niamey. “The security forces recognise that they take money but they have no choice. That is money they use to do their jobs,” said Ousmane Baydo, deputy head of Halcia. In an effort to bypass corrupt security forces, the new law places the legal responsibility on transport companies to ensure travellers have valid documents. “Any transport company that doesn’t check documents, we’ll prosecute them for complicity,” Gazibo said, adding this should help to reduce migrant numbers by next year. “Once we have confiscated two or three buses, the transport companies will start to cooperate,” he said. The justice minister, Amadou Marou, said Niger cannot tackle the problem alone and has appealed to neighbouring countries to adopt similar laws punishing those who profit from illegal migration and to agree terms for the repatriation of migrants. Niger officials are concerned that any unilateral expulsion of west African citizens could sour relations with neighbours. Niger plans to create “welcome centres” in Agadez to try to prevent migrants from falling into the hands of smugglers, to inform them of the risks of the perilous journey, and to return those wanting to go back to their own countries. “This is not a law to protect Europe,” Marou said. “We have done this to save lives because African governments also have a responsibility.” But with some west African states reliant on remittances from migrants, questions remain over how determined they are to combat illegal migration. Marou said Europe needed to make legal immigration easier. “If it is possible for European citizens to come to Africa, it should be just as easy for Africans to go to there.” If it is possible for European citizens to come to Africa, it should be just as easy for Africans to go there Niger is the largest per capita recipient of European aid, with some €600m ($680m) earmarked between now and 2020. EU ambassador Raul Mateus Paula said that would be boosted by at least €30m this year. An EU police training mission will open an office in Agadez and focus its activities on migrant smuggling. The EU will also contribute to the centres to inform and repatriate migrants. Yet Niger and its European partners recognise that, if they are to stem the flows, migrants and smugglers alike need economic alternatives. The 2013 national police report warned that Agadez lived off smuggling and any attempts to end it could lead to riots. With tourism devastated by Islamic militancy in the Sahara, many in the town say they have no other source of income. A smuggler can make 3m CFA francs ($5,212) with just one 4x4 packed with 30 migrants – a fortune in a country where most people live on less than $2 a day. Dozens of ghettos lie behind red mud walls on Agadez’s dirty backstreets, with metal gates offering glimpses of groups of young men inside. “They cannot stop migration completely. If there was no immigration, Agadez would grind to a halt,” said Bashir, who owns a migrant “ghetto”. He says he is getting out of the business because of the new law and wants himself to emigrate. “If Europe would give us money, then we would stay here,” he said. Giuseppe Loprete, local head of the IOM, said migrants who have sold everything to pay for their trip are ready to die rather than return empty-handed to even worse poverty. Would-be migrants should be told more about the risks so they do not leave in the first place, he said. The IOM is training members of western African communities in Niamey to explain the dangers. Djibril Sow – a Senegalese expatriate who has lived in Niamey for years – says he will seek out his fellow citizens in bus stations. Loprete said: “If they know that there is a 90% chance of dying, or getting held up, or coming back with nothing, then I think people will change their minds.” |