From boom to bust: Crackdowns take toll on Niger smuggling hub
With tens of thousands of migrants flooding into the desert city of Agadez en route to Europe, Africa’s smuggling capital enjoyed a surge in business which boosted the local economy. But a government ban on the transportation of migrants has hit business badly, leaving disgruntled locals out of pocket. “It’s as if you smacked a child without saying what it had done wrong,” explains Issouf Maha, mayor of Tchirozerine, a town in central Niger which lies on the edge of the Sahara, just north of Agadez. In May 2015, the government in Niamey adopted a law banning the illegal trafficking of migrants with those found guilty facing a prison sentence of between one and 30 years, and fines of up to 30 million CFA francs .
It was only in August 2016 that the government began “rigorously” applying it, Interior Minister Mohamed Bazoum told AFP. Since then, “more than 100 people smugglers” have been arrested, around a hundred vehicles seized and “nearly 7,000 migrants” brought back to Agadez, Bazoum said, indicating the importance of cracking down on all forms of smuggling. “All trafficking is interlinked” whether it be in migrants, weapons or drugs, he said. As a result of the crackdown, both smugglers and fixers have found themselves at a loose end.
No other work
But it’s not only them: shops, banks and lorry drivers are also feeling the absence of the thousands of migrants who, despite their extreme poverty, have stimulated the economy in this impoverished desert city that is a key transit point for those heading to Europe. “Me, I just help one of the fixers. Now the police are calling us ‘accomplices’,” says Achama Akomili, 35, describing the criminalization of an activity which only three months ago was legal. “Before I was earning a good living. I paid my rent through the migrants and the fixers. With that I could feed my wife and help my family. At the moment, it’s not going well. “We carry on because there’s no other work. We’ve got no choice. Before I was earning between 30,000-40,000 CFA francs per day .”But now, I can go a whole week without earning anything,” he complains. And one day soon, he himself might have to join “the exodus” heading north, Akomili says.
Business at a standstill
Taher Soufiane, who has been driving migrants to the border since 2013, is also at a loose end after being arrested on the road with around 20 people in the back of his pick-up truck. “We didn’t know it was forbidden,” says this 29-year-old father-of-three. After several days in jail, he appeared before a judge and was released. But he’s not clear whether it’s a provisional release before a trial or whether he’s been handed a suspended sentence. “They just told me that if I do it again, I will go to prison for a long time. They took my car and my work and now I just sit around all day,” he complains.
“Why is Europe banning this without giving us anything?” In the market, trader Issouf Halidou says he too has seen his business hit by the crackdown on people smuggling. “I’m not selling anything anymore. Business is at a standstill,” he grumbles. His stall is packed with all the paraphernalia sought by migrants taking the long desert journey north: for 500 CFA francs (75 centimes, 85 cents), you can buy a small water bottle, gloves, a balaclava and sunglasses. For a little more, there is also food: milk for about 2.0 euros, cassava for 1.50 and sugar for 90 centimes. But now he doesn’t know what to do with his stock. — AFP