The standoff between Europe and Niamey is crystallizing this time on the migration issue. The junta has just repealed a law passed in 2015 criminalizing the illicit trafficking of migrants in Niger, the hub of this trafficking towards Europe.
“The president of the National Council for the Protection of the Homeland (CNSP, military regime), General Abdourahamane Tiani, signed (Saturday) an order repealing” a law of May 26, 2015 “relating to the illicit trafficking of migrants” , indicates a press release from the general secretariat of the government read on public radio and television Monday evening.
Convictions expunged
This law, which “classifies and criminalizes certain activities which are regular in nature as illicit trafficking”, had “been passed under the influence of certain foreign powers”, states the press release.
In addition, it “was taken in flagrant contradiction with our community rules” and “did not take into account the interests of Niger and its fellow citizens”. The CNSP therefore “decided to repeal it” because of “all (its) harmful effects and (its) infringing nature of public freedoms”. “The convictions” and “their effects” pronounced in application of the repealed law “are erased as of May 26, 2015”.
Voted on May 26, 2015 by the National Assembly, this law prescribed penalties “of one to thirty years in prison” and “fines of 3 million to 30 million CFA francs” (4,500 to 45,000 euros) against traffickers.
Routes via Algeria or Libya
Since its entry into force, and with the financial support of the European Union, surveillance, including military surveillance, had been reinforced in the desert of the Agadez region (north), an important transit point for thousands of nationals. West Africans seeking emigration to Europe, via Algeria or Libya. Dozens of people working in illegal migration networks have been arrested and imprisoned, and numerous migrant conveyor vehicles confiscated.
The 2015 law, however, did not deter migrants who changed routes, taking more dangerous routes through the desert on new tracks without water points or landmarks or possibilities of possible rescue.
Niamey’s new diplomacy
Many West African migrants generally gather in Agadez where smuggling networks are established. According to city authorities, it is common for vehicles carrying migrants to break down in the desert, or for smugglers to get lost or abandon their passengers for fear of roadblocks or military patrols. Some migrants die of dehydration.
Niger has been led since July 26 by General Tiani, who came to power through a coup that overthrew Mohamed Bazoum, president elected in 2021 and still sequestered in Niamey in his residence. The military regime has moved away from the European countries that until then were Niger’s privileged partners, notably France, to move closer in particular to two of its neighbors also led by the military, Mali and Burkina Faso.