Niger’s gateway to the desert – and beyond

Men returning from Libya on the way back to their countries of origin, in Agadez, Niger. For years, Niger outlawed migration out of Agadez, a desert outpost in the West African country, in a deal with the European Union, but now the gateway city to the Sahara has reopened to migrants travelling north to Europe. — ©2024 The New York Times Company

THE bus station in Agadez, a remote city of low mud-brick buildings in the West African nation of Niger, is buzzing again.

Every week, thousands of migrants from West and Central Africa leave from the station in this gateway city to the Sahara aboard a caravan of pickup trucks, travelling for days toward North Africa, where many will then try to cross the Mediterranean in a quest to reach Europe.