(AFP) Many Africans are managing to evade coronavirus lockdown barriers in Niger, the Sahel’s migrant crossroads, as they press on with their perilous desert trek to the Mediterranean Sea and ultimately Europe.
The migrant flow has slowed down but not dried up despite tight checks in the capital Niamey, and an increase of desert security patrols that have detained hundreds of people as desperate as ever to reach Europe, officials and former smugglers said.
“Gambians, Senegalese, Malians, they are all determined to head there,” said Alassane Mamane, a retired civil [servant] who lives in Agadez, a desert crossroads and departure point for many migrants heading to Libya on the Mediterranean.
