Dozens feared dead after abandoned in Niger desert

Dozens of people are feared dead after human traffickers
abandoned them in Niger's northern desert without food or
water, a senior local official said on Monday.

Fatoumi Boudou, the prefect of Niger's northern region of
Bilma, told the AFP news agency that authorities on Sunday
rescued 24 people who were part of a group of "70 people
who had left in three vehicles from Agadez for Libya".

Agadez is a remote town in Niger on the edge of the 
Sahara desert that has become a major people-
smuggling point.

The traffickers "abandoned them in the middle of the 
desert without food or water", Boudou 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-km 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-km 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 trafficking of migrants and refugees with 
those found guilty facing a prison sentence of between 
one and 30 years, and fines of up to 30 million CFA francs ($51,000).

Libya has long struggled to control its southern borders 
with Sudan, Chad and Niger, even before the 2011 
uprising that toppled long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

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 300km 
away.

Germany and Italy last month called for a European 
Union mission to be installed on the border between 
Libya and Niger to reduce the flow of migrants and refugees.