Migrants' routes cover the main geographical routes from tropical Africa towards Europe taken by people attempting to gain residence and work opportunities unavailable in their home countries. Although most migrants have Europe as their intended destination, alternative routes are also directed towards South Africa and Asia. Very few African migrants have European

travel visa A visa (from the Latin ''charta visa'', meaning "paper that has been seen") is a conditional authorization granted by a polity to a foreigner that allows them to enter, remain within, or leave its territory. Visas typically include limits on ...

s, therefore their only accessible way northwards is that of traveling along trans- Saharan routes and taking boat journeys across sea barriers. About 10% of the whole migratory stream uses sea routes. Most African migrants do not succeed in proceeding beyond the coastal regions of North Africa, ending their journeys in one of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

coastal countries (especially in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

and in the Maghreb, where almost 2 million irregular migrants live). A minority of migrants (between 10 and 15%) continue across the Mediterranean towards Europe facing the dangers of a sea crossing in open boats. The steady stream of migrants has prompted opposition and hostility from North African governments, which have adopted repression and forced repatriation measures. Due to a lack of repatriation agreements, migrants are mainly deported through the southern borders with neighbouring countries (

Rosso Rosso is the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of the river zone allowing year-round navigation. The town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakchott. The Ar ...

, near the Mauritania–

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

border; Oujda, near the

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

–

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

border; Tinzouatine and

In Guezzam In Guezzam (Arabic: عين قزام, ''lit.'' Spring (hydrosphere), springs of Guezzam; Berber language, Berber spelling: Gezzam) is a town and Communes of Algeria, commune that is the capital of In Guezzam Province, Algeria, on the border with N ...

, respectively near Algeria–Mali and Algeria-

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesGambia, Guinea coast) creating new entry paths and new migratory strategies (i.e. the increasing number of underages because less exposed to the risk of forced homecoming), which have partially varied the migrants' origins (fewer migrants from Sub-Sahara and more from

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and Morocco) but still not reducing the migratory pressure from Libya, which is still the major source of people migrating towards

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and the main spot of departure for the European dream. For many migrants who try to cross the various African borders and their complex security, crime, or corruption systems, this is a human odyssey, about which in many cases there are no traces and witnesses. The journey involves considerable expenses (people earning less than 1 Euro per day may spend thousands of Euros for this journey), and is also very hazardous. Mortality during journeys across the desert, the sea or during other stops is a major threat. United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, announced that during 2018, at least 50 migrants died trying to cross the

. The reasons that prompt people to undertake the journey are mainly economic, for people in search of better living conditions, but also cultural and symbolic (e.g. in Sub-Saharan Africa the journey is mainly meant as a different way of undergoing the traditional rites of passage). Through the modification of control and repression measures, the Sub-Saharan African migratory process is changing and therefore gradually tracing new maritime and overland routes, typically run by criminal organizations and networks of local go-betweens, which operate by collusion with the law enforcement authorities.

Agadez - Dirkou - Sabha

This is the first migratory route, which covers the old caravan trail passing by

Agadez Agadez ( Air Tamajeq: ⴰⴶⴰⴷⴰⵣ, ''Agadaz''), formerly spelled Agadès, is the fifth largest city in Niger, with a population of 110,497 based on the 2012 census. The capital of Agadez Region, it lies in the Sahara desert, and is also ...

and

Dirkou Dirkou is a town in the Bilma Department, Agadez Region of north-eastern Niger. It lies in the northern Kaouar escarpment, a north–south line of cliffs which form an isolated oasis in the Sahara desert. As of 2011, the commune had a total po ...

(in

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesSabha oasis (in

), and was gone through first in the 1990s from a huge migratory stream appealed in Libya by political measures aimed at opening the borders introduced by Muammar Gaddafi in 1992. In the last years the Libyan migratory policy has been aiming at contrasting the Western embargo and at supporting the use of Southern foreign workforce in order to overcome the productive lack especially in the field of agriculture and construction. These measures have been blocked after

xenophobic Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...

reactions occurred in 2000 in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

and Zawiya. From then onwards, Libya, being the country with the majority of immigrants among the local countries (about 1.5 million immigrants among 5.5 million inhabitants, mainly distributed on the coastal area), aims at restraining and repressing irregular migrants. Libya and its policy have been supported (despite the continuous

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

violations) by the agreements on the control on irregular migrations signed together with the European countries (especially Italy). Following the widely reported drowning of over 200 migrants traveling from Libya to Europe in March 2009, the Libyan Interior Minister Abdelfattah Yunis al-Obeidi announced an agreement with Nigerien Interior Minister

Albadé Abouba Albadé Abouba is a Nigerien politician who has been the Secretary-General of the National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD-Nassara) since 2009. He served in the government of Niger as Minister of the Interior from 2002 to 2004 and a ...

to begin joint patrols to stem the flow of migrants through Niger into Libya. The majority of Sub-Saharan migrants who travel through Libya come by this route.Libya says most illegals to Europe travel from Niger
AFP. 2009-04-05

Agadez - Arlit - Bamako - Gao - Tamanrasset

From 2000 onwards has been traced a new much more westward oriented route, which gathers the migratory stream moving from Sub-Saharan Africa, which is mostly exposed to conflicts and crisis (such as

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia,

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesCentral African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, etc.) as well as the smaller migratory stream coming from Central Asia. So, nowadays migrants rediscover and go through the old routes of Sub-Saharan caravan networks covered for centuries by nomadic people (

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Alg ...

) from Mali, Niger and

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. The new joints passed through by caravans reshape the urban landscape and many cities, like

and

Arlit Arlit is an industrial town and capital of the Arlit Department of the Agadez Region of northern-central Niger, built between the Sahara Desert and the eastern edge of the Aïr Mountains. It is 200 km south by road from the border with ...

in Niger,

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on the Niger Rive ...

and

Gao Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

in Mali and

Tamanrasset Tamanrasset (; ar, تامنراست), also known as Tamanghasset or Tamenghest, is an oasis city and capital of Tamanrasset Province in southern Algeria, in the Ahaggar Mountains. It is the chief city of the Algerian Tuareg. It is located an alt ...

in Algeria, are filled with migrants and other people involved in the handling and transporting illegal migrants. CeutaBorderFence

From these junts migrants head especially towards Maghnia on the Moroccan border and the Spanish enclave in

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...

and Melilla on the coast, where they continuously try to cross the barriers in defence of the cities or to reach the nearest spots on the Algerian and Tunisian coasts. Between 2000 and 2005 the migratory pressure in Morocco has increased and reached its highest point in summer-autumn 2005, when hundreds of migrants assaulted the barriers of the two Spanish enclaves (Ceuta and Melilla), causing the death of dozens of people and the injure of hundreds of people. The renewed policy of cooperation between

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and Rabat, launched by Government Zapatero in 2004, prompts Moroccan authorities to adopt measures to dissuade and restrain irregular migration, causing a new southward movement of the migratory routes toward the Canary Islands.

Canary Islands

The third route to the Spanish Canary Islands, off Mauritania, has a long history of irregular migration, which has increased since the 1990s due to the gradual closure of exits to the north. The new restraining measures on the Mediterranean coasts, following up the agreements between Italy and Spain, are gradually moving the migratory pressure on the maritime route between

El Aaiún Laâyoune ( , also , ) or El Aaiún ( , ; Hassaniya Arabic: , romanized: ; ber, ⵍⵄⵢⵓⵏ, Leɛyun; ar, label=Modern Standard Arabic, Literary Arabic, العيون, al-ʿUyūn/el-ʿUyūn, lit=The Spring (hydrology), Springs) is the la ...

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the ...

and the Canary Islands. This trail lasts almost a night. As time goes by, the fishermen' ships ( dugout or pateras) of the Western Sahara, which have been strengthened with more powerful engines and therefore are more and more crowded with irregular migrants, are forced to start their journey from coastal spots more and more far-away from El Aaiún route. On the other hand, the restrictions adopted on the Mauritanian and Moroccan coasts deter fishermen from attempting this long journey and the starting points are no longer the Western- Saharan ones, but they become southward oriented, including the coasts of Senegal, Gambia and

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in ...

. The economic costs and the losses of human lives during the passage to the West and the resulting exploitation processes are due to the increase in distance and to the risks of the transfer. Migrants, helped by a compass and little information on the driving of a boat, are in charge of leading it and this behaviour considerably increases the risks of the transfer. This also leads to an increasing number of castaways on the Atlantic coasts.

Notes

{{Reflist

References

* Gabriele Del Grande, ''Mamadou va a morire. La strage dei clandestini nel Mediterraneo'', Roma, Infinito Edizioni, 2007. * A. Bensaâd, ''Voyage avec les clandestins du Sahel'' in "Le Monde Diplomatiques", septembre 2001: 16-17. * A. Bensaâd, ''Agadez, carrefour migratoire sahélo-maghrébin'' in "Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales", vol. 19, n. 1, 2007: 7-28. * J. Brachet, ''Migrations transsahariennes. Vers un désert cosmopolite et morcelé (Niger)'', Paris : éditions du Croquant, 2009. * J. Brachet, ''The Blind Spot of Repression: Migration Policies and Human Survival in the Central Sahara'', in T.-D. Truong and D. Gasper (eds), Transnational Migration and Human Security. The Migration-Development-Security Nexus, Berlin-New York : Springer, 2011, 57-66. * ''Caritas e Migrantes'', XVI Rapporto sull’immigrazione, Roma, Idos, 2006. * J.-P. Cassarino, ''The EU Return Policy: Premises and Implications'', Mirem igration de retour au MaghrebProject, European University Institute, 2006. * CISP-SARP, ''Profils des migrants subsahariens en situation irregulière en Algérie'', Alger, mars 2007. * CESPI/SID, ''European Migration Policies towards Africa. Trends, Impact, and Outlook'', Part I, Cespi Working Paper n. 24, 2006. * Lorenzo Coslovi, ''Spagna e Italia nel tragico domino degli sbarchi'' in "Limes", n. 4, 2007:227-236. * H. De Haas, ''Trans-Saharan Migration to North Africa and the EU: Historical Roots and Current Trends'', Migration Information Source, novembre 2006. * Sandro De Luca, ''Le vie sahariane per l'Europa sono infinite'' in "Limes", n. 4, 2007:217-226 * European Commission, ''Technical Mission to Libya on Illegal Immigration'', Report, 27/11-06/12/2004. * Francesco Forgiane, ''La mano delle mafie sui nuovi schiavi'' in "Limes", n. 4, 2007: 157-160. * E. Godschmidt, ''Storming the Fences: Morocco and Europe's Anti-Migration Policy'' in "Middle East Report Online", n. 239, Summer 2006. * M. A. Gomez, ''Reversing Sail. A History of the African Diaspora'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005. * M. Lahlou, ''Guardiani o partner? Il ruolo degli stati del Maghreb nella gestione delle migrazioni africane verso l'Europa'', Cespi Working Paper n. 24, 2006 * Ferruccio Pastore, ''La paranoia dell’invasione e il futuro dell’Italia'' in "Limes", n. 4, 2007: 25-33. * Bruno Riccio, ''Emigrare, immigrare, transmigrare'' in "Afriche e orienti", n. 3-4, 2000: 4-40. * A. Triulzi e M. Carsetti, ''Ascoltare voci migranti: riflessioni intorno alle memorie di rifugiati dal Corno d'Africa'' in "Afriche e Orienti", n. 1, 2007, 96-115. * E. Vitale, ''Ius migrandi. Figure di erranti al di qua della cosmopoli'', Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 2004. * A. S. Wender, ''Gourougou, Bel Younes, Oujda. La situation allarmante des migrants subsahariens en transita au Maroc et les conséquences des politiques de l'Union Européenne'' in "Cimade", October 2004. African society Immigration to Europe Immigration to Africa

Agadez - Dirkou - Sabha

Agadez - Arlit - Bamako - Gao - Tamanrasset

Canary Islands

See also

Notes

References