24 migrants rescued in Niger, dozens more feared dead

Twenty-four West African migrants were rescued and 
dozens more feared dead after traffickers deserted them 
in Niger's northern desert without food or water, a senior 
local official said Monday.

The migrants rescued on Sunday were part of a group 
of "70 people who had left in three vehicles from Agadez 
for Libya," Fatoumi Boudou, the prefect of the northern 
region of Bilma.

Agadez is a remote town in Niger on the edge of the 
Sahara that has become the smuggling capital of Africa.

The traffickers "abandoned them in the middle of the 
desert without food or water," he said, adding that those rescued had spoken of several dead bodies without 
specifying a number.

But the Agadez-based Air Info website, citing a security source, said scores of bodies had been buried on Sunday 
by troops and locals.

A local radio station had said 52 dead bodies had been
discovered by authorities on Sunday.

The 750-kilometre (465-mile) trip from Agadez to the 
Libyan border takes between two and three days with 
only very short petrol and toilet stops on the way.

Boudou said searches across a 65-kilometre radius had yielded one dead body "with the identity card of a Nigerian student."

In early June, at least 44 Libya-bound migrants, 
including women and babies, died of thirst in the Sahara desert after their vehicle broke down in scorching conditions.

In May 2015, the government in Niamey adopted a law banning the illegal trafficking of migrants with those found guilty facing a prison sentence of between one and 30 years, and fines of up to 30 million CFA francs (45,000 euros/$51,000).

Libya has long struggled to control its southern borders 
with Sudan, Chad and Niger, even before the 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

In the chaos that followed, traffickers stepped up their
business, with tens of thousands of people each year 
making the perilous crossing to Italy just some 300 
kilometres away.

Germany and Italy last month called for an EU mission 
to be installed on the border between Libya and Niger to reduce the migrant flow.