Beggars repatriated from Senegal: the Nigerian state gives its figures

More than a thousand Nigerien migrants who were begging in the streets of Dakar were repatriated to their country last week, announced the government, which intends to repatriate all Nigeriens begging abroad.

On March 25 and 26, two flights chartered by the Nigerien government brought back from Dakar 478 children, 413 women and 162 men, all nationals of “Kantché and Magaria”, two departments in the Zinder region (center-east), close to the Nigeria, said a government statement sent to AFP on Saturday.

These repatriations were decided after a television report in Senegal which revealed the situation of migrants in the Senegalese capital where they lived in precarious shelters in the streets or in underground passages.

“Faced with the growing phenomenon of begging which degrades the image of our country (…) and mortgages the future of innocent children, the government has decided to take strong measures to put an end to it”, indicates the press release.

He will “prosecute before the competent courts” all “those who maintain this criminal network” and “other operations for the repatriation of Nigeriens” who practice begging abroad “will be launched, he adds.

In the region of Zinder, the local authorities have for their part opened an investigation “with a view to dismantling” the networks “which transport beggars abroad”. “It is not poverty that is at the root (of this phenomenon), but organized mafia networks that traffic and smuggle these human beings,” said Nigerien Minister of the Interior, Hamadou Adamou. Souley, welcoming the first wave of returnees from Senegal to Niamey.

Niger is hit by a serious food crisis due to drought and jihadist violence is preventing farmers from cultivating their fields, according to the UN and the authorities.

With AFP

–