“Defeated destinies”: Catholic Priest in Niger on Experiences of Migrants Returning Home

In Algeria, Cécé was paid sometimes and underpaid, Fr. Armanino says, adding, “It was not worth staying any longer and so he chose to return home to find the same job he had left the year before.”

The migrant went through various challenges, including expulsions, deportations, targeted removals, and “defeated destinies,” Fr. Armanino says in the January 23 report.

He says that there is also the feeling of shame for “what has been invested in terms of time, money, energy, dreams and regret mixed with the bitter relief of being, in spite of everything, still alive.”

For years, Niger has been an important transit area for migration from West and Central Africa to Libya and Algeria and in some cases to Europe. 

“All must face the desert before reaching their destination in North African countries or before facing the Mediterranean to try to reach Europe,” Fr. Armanino says, noting that from January to May 2022, Algeria sent 14,196 migrants back to Niger.

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The Catholic Priest also gives the account of Maurice and Amos who he says arrived in Niger from Sudan where they had been stuck, unable to proceed to Europe.

Both originally from Liberia, Maurice and Amos left together for Sudan “with the secret hope of reaching, via Egypt, Europe,” Fr. Armanini says. 

He explains, “Maurice went to university and taught while Amos established himself as a technician in information technology. Except that in Sudan, the situation is tragic because of the resistance to the military dictatorship.”

When the two find it impossible to continue living in Sudan, they start their way back home, and find themselves living at a camp in Niamey.

Maurice and Amos live, along with James, his four children and mother, under a tent.