Aboubacar’s life under the bridge near Bridja, in the commune of Staouéli, west of Algiers, is not poetic. The young Nigerian, in his twenties, does not complain.. For three months he has been begging for alms at the entrance to the municipal market in Ain Benian, a neighbouring municipality of Staouéli where his father lives. “dwelling” under the bridge. Your goal is to earn enough money and launch “your business” to improve their daily lives and send money to their family in Zinder, Niger.
To reach this suburb of Algiers, he made “by truck” a journey of almost 3,300 km. While the journey between Zinder and the Algerian borders can be made in more or less acceptable conditions, from In Guezzam, in the far south-east of Algeria, it becomes dangerous. “I don’t have a visa, so I enter fraudulently and, there, you have to follow guides who can leave you in the middle of the desert if you are chased by Algerian customs officials.” he relates.
A source of tension between Algiers and its southern neighbors, the migration issue was the origin of a cold wave between Algeria and Niger with the summons, on April 3, 2024, of the Algerian ambassador to Niamey in protest against “violent character” return operations of migrants from West Africa.
The page now seems to have been partially turned with the visit of the Nigerien Prime Minister, Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, to Algeria on 13 and 14 August, accompanied by a large ministerial delegation. This issue has been debated, all the more complex as Algiers does not have a clear policy, hence the permanent uncertainty for immigrants who live between the fear of being sent back and the hope of creating a life for themselves in this country where there is no shortage of job opportunities, especially in construction.
Women give alms at crossroads
Only Malians are exempt from visas under an agreement between the two countries. They are considered as “privileged” by other sub-Saharans. The president of the Algerian Red Crescent, Ibtissam Hamlaoui, recalled that only the Sahrawis are considered refugees, the rest being immigrants subject to the legislation on entry and exit from Algerian territory. It is therefore difficult, if not impossible, to have an idea, even an approximate one, of the number of these immigrants.
Aboubacar said to himself ” lucky ” having crossed the Sahara without too many difficulties. He gives thanks with an amulet, his “talisman”who has it “protected”. He shares his life under the bridge with his fellow desert crossers. “We met during the trip, we got used to each other. He is like my family now.” Around fifty migrants, mostly women and children, have settled there in basic conditions. Several women share the care of groups of children. An improvised camp, surrounded by fruit trees, where they sleep under the stars on dirty sponge mattresses or directly on the ochre earth.
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