After they were brutally expelled from Tunisia months ago, some Gambian migrants have reached Niger and opened up to the Gambia Journal about their ordeal. They revealed having walked about 400 kilometers with bare feet as the Tunisian police chased them away from their country.

Bubacarr Dampha, a Gambian migrant stranded in Niger who is among those who risked the long journey, said there are many Gambians in Niger currently expelled from Tunisia.

Dampha explained that before making it to Niger, they were treated inhumanely by the Tunisian police, who relentlessly pursued them and forced them to flee their country. Despite enduring the arduous journey on foot, they were left abandoned in the harsh desert of Niger with no shelter or support.

Bubacarr Dampha further expressed frustration at the unequal treatment, as migrants from Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, and Guinea were provided with accommodation while Gambians were left to suffer in the unforgiving desert.

“We are currently over 200 Gambians, dumped in a desert; it is only the people from Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, and Guinea who are given accommodation in homes while Gambians are left in the desert,” he stressed.

Dampha expressed frustration with the lack of support from the Gambian government and the IOM, leaving them vulnerable in harsh desert conditions. He urged the international community to intervene and provide assistance to the Gambian migrants.

Language barrier and the harsh anti-migrants rules in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso

Dampha’s plea highlights the desperate circumstances faced by many migrants who embark on perilous journeys in search of a better life, only to be met with rejection and abandonment.

He further added that the Malian and Senegalese governments rapatriate their citizens to their countries, but the Gambians are left stranded in the desert. Dampha stressed the urgent need for humanitarian aid and support to be extended to the Gambian migrants, as their lives hang in the balance.

“Without immediate intervention, their chances of survival are slim, as they struggle to endure the scorching heat and lack of water and food;” Dampha emphasizes adding that knowing the reality faced by Gambians in the bush would bring anyone to tears.

According to many accounts gathered by the Gambia Journal, Gambian migrants in Niger face dire conditions, unable to return home due to Malian security controls, leaving them stranded in Burkina Faso, facing extreme hardships and desperation.

“Some of us whose families sent money to get their people back home would travel up to Mali, but the Malian security personnel would return them back to Burkina Faso; those people are also really suffering in Burkina,” Bubacarr Dampha stated.

Dampha went on to say that only those at the Migrants Camp with an IOM ID are permitted to eat, and even the skilled Gambians couldn’t afford jobs in Niger. He claimed that although the security personnel forbade them from doing so, they sleep in the bus stops.

“We now sleep under the shop verandas, and we have people among us with tuberculosis and asthma. wWeare calling on the Gambia government to help us,” he said.

Lamin Jammeh is another Gambian migrant stranded in Niger who spoke to the Gambia Journal. He said that only migrants from French-speaking countries are given food and accommodation.

According to Jammeh, people from English-speaking nations like the Gambia are suffering and receiving no assistance from the government because the Niger authorities who visit them do not speak English.

“It is problematic to work here. Typically, we wash cars for pittances. There are more beggars than working people, and they make fun of us first thing in the morning. They close their taps and even their toilets. He said in a despairing voice, “I swear to God, this is what we are going through.”

“Some of these conditions are the reasons why many returnees to the Gambia make it home with trauma because of the terrible life we experienced here,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Jammeh disclosed that the stranded migrants in Niger survive on petty jobs like cutting people’s nails, repairing shoes, and also begging.