Banjul, the Gambia – Ten years in the past, Alagie’s time in Banjul wasn’t simple. Nonetheless, he had each his folks, a spouse, a house, and a dream of creating a greater time for all of them in Europe.
Now the 34-year-old, who requested that his complete identify no longer be impaired to offer protection to his privateness, has misplaced a lot of what he had.
Alagie left the Gambia in 2014, taking the abnormal “backway” to Europe earlier than he was once forcibly returned 8 years after.
“I wanted the best for my wife and future children,” he advised Al Jazeera about his choice to reduce, taking a look unfortunately on the marriage ceremony photograph on his wall.
Even if nonetheless married, he can’t have the funds for to aid his spouse and their 10-month-old child, forcing her to go back to her folks’ house.
“My wife loves me deeply,” he mentioned. “If it weren’t true love, she would have divorced me and moved on.”
When Alagie first left for Europe, he travelled to Morocco via boat, after smuggled himself via land thru Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, earlier than crossing the Mediterranean against Italy.
The difficulties began virtually right away. “Many migrants I travelled with from Libya – mostly from Mali, Nigeria, and a few Gambians – drowned. I was among the few lucky ones who made it to Italy,” he mentioned.
Touchdown in Italy in 2015, he was once right away positioned in a refugee camp for a number of months. “The easy life I imagined in Europe was nothing like the harsh reality I faced in Italy.”
Determined, Alagie made up our minds to smuggle himself to Germany with others from Senegal, Niger and Nigeria. They idea they might in finding higher alternatives, however nearest crossing the border, they had been picked up via German government and despatched to every other refugee camp.
“It was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. We were packed like sardines, isolated from cities and any social life.”
Nearest, Alagie discovered paintings as a petroleum station baby sitter, the similar activity he held again within the Gambia. He’d ship cash house to his people each alternative occasion era striving to accumulation asylum.
“Life there was hard, but living in the Gambia is far worse than even the refugee camps,” he mentioned, who prefer the hardships in Europe.
However Alagie’s days in Europe had been numbered. One generation in September 2022, era he was once making breakfast within the petite space he hired with alternative migrants, plainclothes German cops explode in. “They handcuffed me like a criminal and held me in a [refugee] camp for two months before putting me on a flight back to the Gambia,” he mentioned.
Upon arrival in Banjul, he was once left without a cash or aid. “I came home empty-handed, to an empty country.”
Migration and go back
Abnormal migration has lengthy been a subject within the Gambia, with many younger community – pushed via poverty – risking their lives to get to Europe looking for higher alternatives.
Greater than 35,000 Gambians arrived within the Eu Union between 2015 and 2022, in keeping with Frontex, the EU border keep an eye on company. Right through height classes, some 7,000 Gambians tried emigrate yearly, pushed via dire political and financial situations.
Below the 1996-2017 regime of President Yahya Jammeh, many community fled autocratic rule and had been granted asylum within the West because of political repression. Because the transition to liberty in 2017, extra asylum programs from Gambians had been unwelcome in comparison to earlier than, as the rustic is thought of as extra solid.
There has additionally been higher cooperation between the Gambian govt and the EU on migration control, together with the “Good Practice Agreement”, which outlines procedures across the go back of migrants.
Since 2017, greater than 5,000 Gambians have returned, in keeping with the Global Group for Migration (IOM). Some are deportees, however maximum are voluntary repatriations, the IOM mentioned. Some returned as a result of the extreme hardships they encountered in Europe, era others have been stranded in Libya, by no means making it around the Mediterranean to start with.
Some of the Gambians who reduce, many say the dire social and financial situations form them aspiring to chance the crossing.
The Gambia suffers from top formative years unemployment, at round 41 p.c – a driver at the back of abnormal migration. The economic system, which is closely depending on agriculture and tourism, additionally depends upon remittances from Gambians in another country. In line with Global Store knowledge, remittances accounted for round 26 p.c of the rude home product (GDP) in 2023.
Like many alternative migrants, Alagie’s folks supported his choice to reduce thru abnormal routes, hoping he would trade their lives for the simpler. Unfortunately, each kicked the bucket era he was once in another country, depart him with a deep sense of feel sorry about.
“They died while I was away, without me making their lives better,” he lamented.
‘I thought Europe would be different’
Alagie’s migration progress is echoed in conversations with alternative community round Banjul.
Musa Faye is in his early 60s. He first left the Gambia at past 38, ultimately making it to america, the place he lived for 20 years till he was once deported in 2017.
“Life in the Gambia seemed better back then,” he mirrored. “Now, it’s a disaster – nothing is functioning, and the country is in a dire state.”
Faye left at the back of a spouse and 3 youngsters within the Gambia, with the hope of creating enough quantity cash to hurry them to america – nevertheless it by no means panned out.
“There are no jobs in Gambia; people suffer every day,” the taxi motive force mentioned. “I did the similar activity in The us, however right here it’s a nightmare. At my past, I must be fascinated about depart, however that’s no longer an possibility.
“The American dream didn’t turn out as I had hoped,” he mentioned, “but it’s still far better than life here.”
The attract of time in another country, steadily amplified via social media, drives many to chance perilous trips looking for a greater time.
Rohey, who didn’t wish to divulge her surname to guard anonymity, was once seduced via the glamorous pictures she noticed posted on social media via a highschool pal residing in Italy.
“I thought Europe was like jannah [paradise]. Seeing her posts made me think, ‘This is the life I want, too,’” the 36-year-old salon workman mentioned.
So she embarked at the dangerous progress in 2010, arriving in Libya in 2011, simply because the civil conflict erupted. That’s when her “nightmare” started.
“I was raped multiple times and forced into hard labour without pay,” Rohey mentioned.
Nonetheless, she sought after to proceed, ultimately paying smugglers to pass the Mediterranean to Italy. “I had to hide some money in my pants just to afford the journey.”
In Italy, she labored as a hairdresser however discovered time a long way from the paradise she had envisioned. “I thought Europe would be different – easy money and a good life. I was wrong.” Her room was once a minute, leaking territory she describes as a “hell”.
Again within the Gambia since 2019, Rohey works in a salon simply out of doors Banjul. “The salon is almost always empty. Sometimes I walk 6km [4 miles] home because I can’t even make enough for transport fare,” she mentioned.
Rohey considers her go back a mode of “voluntary deportation”, pronouncing that many migrant ladies are pressured into prostitution – a destiny she refused to simply accept, so she left. “I would rather return to the hardship in my home country than engage in prostitution,” she mentioned.
Years of walk
The street migrants walk to achieve their imagined higher time in another country is nearly all the time an hard one, and the progress from time to time takes years.
Ousman Jobe, now 44, first ventured around the Sahara in 1998 at simply 18. His progress from the Gambia to Morocco took 4 gruelling years. “We drove through the Sahara Desert, sometimes covering over 1,000km [620 miles] before seeing another country,” he remembered.
Jobe travelled with greater than 40 Gambians in a truck, some as younger as 15, together with ladies and kids. The progress was once perilous. “We ran out of water, and we had to drink our urine or have someone else urinate in our mouths because we had none left,” he mentioned.
The cruel situations claimed many lives, most commonly from Senegal and Mali. Because the eldest, Jobe was once answerable for burying them. “We buried them in mass graves or sometimes just left their bodies.”
There have been alternative risks, too. “[Criminals] stopped us on the way to Algeria through Morocco, forcefully taking the men’s money while raping the women in front of us,” he mentioned. “It was devastating to witness, but we were helpless.”
Jobe left the Gambia as a result of he “was tired of seeing my parents in poverty”, he mentioned, and sought after to support them. Tragically, his mom – who offered goats to earn the cash wanted for his crossing to Europe – kicked the bucket in 2021 earlier than eye the people’s dream of a higher time fulfilled.
Morro, every other returnee who requested that his actual identify no longer be impaired, additionally wanted “significant funds” for his 2019 progress – cash additionally raised via his folks.
“My parents supported me on this journey because they just wanted me to reach Europe and better their lives,” the now 28-year-old mentioned.
However his progress ended virtually once it all started when the petite boat he was once travelling in sank off the coast of Mauritania. Greater than 60 Gambians died that generation, however Morro narrowly escaped. “My swimming skills saved me from drowning,” he mentioned.
He returned house right away afterwards, however nonetheless relives the shock of that generation. “It’s hard to explain. It was the most devastating and painful experience of my life.”
Morro has since joined D419, an affiliation of survivors and returnees named nearest the past of the shipwreck, December 4, 2019. The gang’s objectives are to celebrate those that died and lift consciousness concerning the perils of indistinguishable trips. “We need to fight against this dangerous route,” mentioned Morro, now a vocal suggest in opposition to abnormal migration.
However he nonetheless goals of taking a more secure path to Europe. “Europe is so different from the Gambia. If I had made it there, my life and my family’s would have transformed for the better,” he mentioned.
Since Jobe’s voluntary go back to the Gambia in 2019, he has additionally impaired his expression to discourage others from taking the abnormal path to Europe. “I want to discourage others from using this dangerous route … It’s deadly, and people need to be warned.”
However he admits time isn’t simple in Banjul. He was once earning money via riding a taxi, however now sells secondhand footwear in his neighbourhood. “On a good day, I make 1,000 dalasi ($14),” he mentioned, “but some days I go home without a sale.” Dwelling hand to mouth, Jobe steadily has to choose from meals and hire.
Suffering to manage
For community taking the backway to Europe and america, the progress is generally fraught with risks era their month spent within the West steadily comes with ruthless remedy or even violence, the IOM has famous.
In March, as an example, Gambian Lamin Touray was once killed via German government, and his wretched loss of life was once captured on video. Endmost 12 months, Gambian Basirou Jallow was once murdered via a German nationwide. And this 12 months, era being deported, Saikou Kanteh persisted a brutal attack via German government. He was once gagged with a steel ring earlier than being forcibly despatched again to the Gambia; it took days for the steel ring to be got rid of from his mouth.
Again house, there are additional demanding situations. The psychological condition catastrophe amongst Gambian deportees has reached alarming ranges, professionals say, with many struggling extreme mental misery, and a few even taking their very own lives.
In 2019, Buba Baldeh, a deportee from Italy, was once arrested for killing two sufferers on the Gambia’s simplest psychiatric medical institution, Tanka Tanka. The 27-year-old was once deported in 2018 nearest a failed asylum bid and therefore struggled with psychological weakness. The sufferers had been fellow sufferers on the medical institution, additionally believed to be deportees from Italy.
Previous this 12 months, a tender guy from the Central River area of the rustic, deported from Italy, ended his time. In his suicide be aware, he wrote: “I am asking everyone for forgiveness. I have nothing in this life, so I decided to kill myself.”
His brother, Foday, described him as a loving guy who sought after the most productive for his people. “His deportation took a heavy toll on him, and he ended his life at 26 years.”
At Tanka Tanka Psychiatric Health facility, the ability’s matron, Bakary Camara, advised Al Jazeera that 12 returnees are lately admitted and affected by psychological condition problems.
“Some of the deportees are taken directly from the airport to the psychiatric hospital because they had already been diagnosed with mental disorders in Germany or Italy and deported straight to the Gambia. Others are brought to the hospital by their families after showing signs of mental health problems upon their return,” Camara mentioned.
“We are overwhelmed with cases like these at the moment.”
For its section, the Gambian govt mentioned it’s dedicated to the reintegration of returnees, running carefully with world organisations together with the United Countries and putting in place programmes to help with talents coaching, and reintegration.
“We are actively collaborating with development partners to ensure returnees have the opportunities and resources to rebuild their lives,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Formative years mentioned. “Through vocational training, psychosocial support, and entrepreneurship, we aim to empower them and mitigate the root causes of irregular migration.”
Gambia-EU word of honour
In 2018, the Gambia and the EU signed the Excellent Apply Commitment, aiming to lead the go back of Gambian migrants. It was once a part of a broader struggle to handle abnormal migration and support cooperation between the 2.
Then again, the word of honour sparked common debate, particularly on social media and in particular when a flying from Germany in February 2019 confronted access problems because of a shortage of conversation with Banjul government. A nation demonstration the then occasion highlighted the tensions situation the do business in, particularly as there was once a moratorium on migrant returns in park till 2022.
This July, following native media studies alleging usual deportations from Europe and a top choice of returnees, the EU’s ambassador to the Gambia, Corrado Pampaloni, mentioned: “There are no mass deportations taking place from European countries to the Gambia or any other country”.
He mentioned returns had been taking place in petite numbers (tens rather of loads) and that deportations that do hurry park are most likely because of explicit bilateral promises or exceptions that let deportations from sure international locations.
Then again, Yahya Sonko, a Gambian migrant activist primarily based in Germany, mentioned greater than 400 Gambians had been repatriated in 2023 lonely. Moreover, there are greater than 20,000 undocumented Gambians lately dwelling in Europe.
Future many Gambians had been granted asylum within the West all over the Jammeh generation – the precise quantity isn’t recognized, however has integrated newshounds, politicians and activists – community like Alagie weren’t so lucky.
His utility was once unwelcome in 2017, the similar 12 months the democratic govt of President Adama Barrow assumed energy.
“They rejected my asylum because they said we could go back home to a stable Gambia,” Alagie mentioned, including that German government advised him his house nation was once “a new democratic state” era turning ill his utility.
Alagie expressed his frustration with Barrow’s management, calling it a “curse”.
“Now we are back to nothing, and it is depressing to live in this country,” he mentioned.
In spite of the dangers, together with the top choice of Gambian deaths on perilous trips, many proceed emigrate.
Alagie understands the trap of Europe, which radiances as a beacon of hope for him and plenty of younger Gambians – in spite of the warnings they know are there.
Progressive to go back, he’s even making an allowance for taking the hard backway direction all over again.
“I want to better my wife and child’s lives,” Alagie mentioned. “I will die trying.”