Niger says to take in 4,000 migrants expelled from Algeria

Niamey, Niger: Niger plans to take in 4,000 migrants expelled from neighbouring Algeria for humanitarian reasons before sending them back to their hom...

Niamey, Niger: Niger plans to take in 4,000 migrants expelled from neighbouring Algeria for humanitarian reasons before sending them back to their home countries, the governor of a northern desert border region said Saturday.

The repatriation operation would be carried out with the help of the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM), the governor of Agadez, Ibrah Boulama, said on state television.

The plan, to be carried out between now and July, was to prevent "a humanitarian disaster", he said, adding: "Over April, we have seen an unprecedented wave of pushbacks from Algeria."

Police in the border town of Assamaka had counted more than 6,000 migrants arriving, and in such numbers the shelters set up by the IOM were overcrowded, he said.

Since 2014, irregular migrants from Niger and other African countries have regularly been expelled from Algeria, a transit point for many aiming to reach Europe.