Migration from Africa: No wonder they still try
Posted: May 29, 2014 Filed under: Mali, The Sahel | Tags: Agadez, Algeria, asylum, asylum seekers, Burkina Faso, EU, Europe, Gao, human trafficking, informal networks, Italy, Lampedusa, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, narcoticx, Niger, smuggling, Tamanrasset, trafficking, Tripoli Leave a commentWhy so many Africans still risk their lives to reach Europe
“GET free or die trying,” runs a graffito in English on the wall of a migrants’ detention centre on the outskirts of Tripoli, Libya’s capital. The author was one of the countless migrants to pass through the fetid, overcrowded facility, his fate unknown.
Some of the people herded into more than 20 such centres across Libya were intercepted by Libyan naval vessels as they attempted the perilous journey across the Mediterranean. Others were arrested before reaching the sea by Libyan militias that have held sway since the revolution that toppled Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
Escape from Timbuktu: Foreigners Flee as Mali’s Rebels Declare Independence
Posted: April 6, 2012 Filed under: Mali | Tags: Africa, al-Qaeda, Ansar Eddine, AQIM, coup, Gao, Iyad Ag Ghali, Mali, Mauritania, MNLA, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, MUJWA, Omar Hamaha, rebels, Timbuktu, Tuareg Leave a comment
A handout picture released by Azawad National Liberation Movement (MLNA) on April 2, 2012 and taken in February 2012 reportedly shows MNLA fighters gathering in an undisclosed location in Mali. AFP / GETTY IMAGES
Caked in dust and bristling with weaponry, the Tuareg rebels smiled at Neil Whitehead and Diane English. “It’s okay, we’re here for your protection,” one of the veiled warriors grinned at the nervous couple. Caught up in the middle of a war after Tuareg separatists advanced hundreds of miles in a matter of hours, the hotel-owners had tried twice already to leave their adopted home of Timbuktu. At first, retreating army columns had blocked their way. Then, when the road eventually cleared, English and Whitehead ran straight into a firefight. “There were guns going off all around us and tracer going past the cab windows, and we thought, ‘This isn’t good’,” English says, with a flash of understatement. Read the rest of this entry »
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