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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Kaamil Ahmed

‘We don’t want to stay here’: UN accused of abandoning refugees in Niger

In Agadez, Niger, refugees in a desert camp  protest peacefully with placards saying 'we don't want to stay here'.
Refugees, many of whom were pushed back from north Africa as they tried to get to Europe, protest over their plight in the camp near Agadez, Niger. Photograph: Daniel Kisito Kouawo/IOM

There is no shade from the sun nor protection from sandstorms in the deserts of Niger and so, for almost 300 days, the refugees stranded there have stood in protest with a single message: “We don’t want to stay here.”

About 15km (8 miles) from the nearest town of Agadez, the 2,000 refugees in the camp feel they have been isolated from the world, kept out of sight and earshot and abandoned by those they feel should be helping them – the Nigerien government, the EU and the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR.

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