Algeria stops forcing migrants into Sahara after outrage
PARIS — Algeria’s deadly expulsions of migrants into the Sahara Desert have nearly ground to a halt after widespread condemnation and the abrupt firing of two top security officials.
The expulsions to the desert borders that Algeria shares with Niger and Mali have all but ended since The Associated Press reported less than three weeks ago that more than 13,000 people, including women and children, had been dropped off in the stark, dangerous region since May 2017, according to officials with the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration.
Before the AP reached out to Algeria for comment and published the report on June 26, the North African nation was expelling migrants by the hundreds almost every week into the unforgiving desert, sometimes to their deaths.
Algeria has refused repeated AP requests for comment on the expulsions.