Gambiaj.com – (Rosso, Senegal/Mauritania) – The border town of Rosso is grappling with a burgeoning humanitarian crisis as hundreds of deported migrants arrive daily from Mauritania, finding themselves trapped in a desolate limbo. Weeks into Mauritania’s escalated crackdown on undocumented migrants, individuals from across West Africa, including Guinea, Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, and Côte d’Ivoire, are stranded without the means to proceed.

Lacking identification papers, these migrants are unable to legally re-enter Mauritania, where many had been living and working, nor can they officially cross into Senegal. This leaves them languishing in makeshift settlements on both sides of the border, battling hunger, disease, and profound despair.

Eyewitness testimonies paint a disturbing picture of the expulsions. Migrants recount arbitrary arrests, physical violence, and the confiscation of their personal possessions. “They beat us, arrested us without warning, and deported us like criminals,” shared one exhausted man from the Senegalese side of Rosso.

Aid workers on the ground are struggling to cope with the relentless influx, reporting the arrival of approximately two busloads of migrants each day, filled beyond capacity.

Makeshift shelters, devoid of basic necessities like electricity and running water, are overflowing. Local volunteers are desperately organizing community leaders by nationality to manage the growing crisis, but resources are rapidly being depleted.

While Mauritanian authorities assert that the expulsions adhere to international legal standards, their actions are drawing sharp criticism from regional leaders and humanitarian organizations.

“This is not deportation; this is abandonment,” declared Diallo Amadou Oury, a Guinean community leader in Senegal, highlighting the precarious situation of those expelled, many of whom have left behind families and livelihoods in Mauritania.

Critics contend that these expulsions are a direct consequence of increasingly stringent, EU-backed border enforcement policies that prioritize deterrence over the fundamental dignity and human rights of migrants.

As the informal settlements in Rosso swell and aid resources dwindle, the stark human cost of these geopolitical strategies is becoming tragically evident.

The situation underscores the urgent need for a coordinated regional response to address the immediate humanitarian needs of the stranded migrants and to find sustainable, rights-based solutions to migration management.