Despite fears in Europe, no migrant surge after Niger junta scrapped ban

Sybil Esth, a Sierra Leonean migrant, repatriated from Algeria six months ago, looks on while holding her child in Agadez, Niger, April 23, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer

AGADEZ, Niger (Reuters) - At the bus station in Agadez, a town in northern Niger that serves as a gateway to the Sahara, a dozen men – their faces masked by turbans and sunglasses – clambered onto the back of a battered pickup truck headed across the desert to Libya.

Several men with legs dangling over the side of the vehicle shouted "Italy, Italy!", gripping short wooden poles that they hope will prevent them from falling off along the way.