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Gao's deadly migrant trade
BBC News Online's Joseph Winter is tracing the route of an African migrant, Mamadou Saliou "Billy" Diallo, who made it to Europe after a long and dangerous journey across the Sahara. Here, in the second of five articles, he visits the Malian town of Gao - from where thousands set off across the desert hoping to make it to the West.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Malian town of Gao has been at the centre of cross-Sahara trade for hundreds of years.
In the 15th and 16th Centuries, it was the capital of the Songhai empire, which stretched from Senegal to Nigeria.
<
r>Not everyone in Gao has taken kindly to the arrival of migrants
Gold, salt, dates and slaves used to be the most lucrative goods, taken in camel caravans across the desert by Touareg nomads, protected
fr
m the elements by the indigo turbans wrapped
around their faces.
These days, a new commodity has emerged - people. They are no longer slaves captured from the countries south of the Sahara by raiding parties but willing passengers fleeing the poverty and instability of their home countries.
Mamadou Saliou "Billy" Diallo paid some $430 to be taken from the Mali capital Bamako to Morocco and like many others he passed through Gao.
The West and Central Africans bound for Europe try to stay hidden, knowing that theirs is an illegal journey. But they are not hard to find.
Ask any Gao resident where the "travellers" or "Ghanaians" (although most come from Nigeria) are and they will point out house after house, where they are staying, waitin
g for their onward transport.
In pictures: Sahara gateway
Their accommodation will normally be organised by the Gao-based people smugglers, who in turn hand them over
to t
he T
ouaregs, wh
o are still masters of the desert and know routes which avoid the official border cro
ssing-points.
When they venture outside the mud-wall houses, those from coastal countries, such as Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia are usually obvious.
They tend to be shorter and stockier than the tall, slender people who live closer to the Sahara, and they often wear brightly-coloured shirts, jeans and flashy jewellery instead of long flowing gowns.
One Touareg in Gao said that these "coastal people" often die because they do not know or understand the desert, unlike the Touaregs who live throughout the Sahara, whether in modern-day Mali, Niger or Algeria.
Unreported deaths
It is impossible to know how many people die trying to cross the desert but in two weeks of sp
eaking to migrants in several countries, I heard many similar tales.
Billy's journey started in Dakar, Senegal, and ended more than five months later in Brescia, Ital
y. Josep
h Winter
has been tracing h
is route.
Enlarge Map
A Nigerian man called Papa, who said he was a guide for other migrants, sai
d he had once found the bodies of 120 people and 60 on another occasion.
They had run out of water and died of thirst in their convoy of vehicles.
Binta from Niger said that she had been part of a group of six people who had walked across the desert for two weeks.
She said that one woman had fallen sick. The others had carried her for two days before they too started to tire and they abandoned her.
The next group of migrants had found her dead body several days later and buried her.
These are extremely remote areas, with not a police station or clinic for thousands of miles.
The only passers-by are other illegal migrants or people
smugglers and so these deaths are rarely reported.
Even if they are, many migrants do not carry identity papers, so it is difficult to know who should be informed.
Mou
ssa Sakho fr
om Mali told me that one o
f his cousins had died in similar circumstances several years ago but he had not yet told the family.
I suspect that the bones
of thousands of migrants lie beneath the desert sand.
Organised networks
Those involved are only too well aware of the risks.
This guide - who does not want to be identified - has walked the desert for days
I told one of Gao's biggest people smugglers that I wanted to cross the desert.
"Well, I couldn't put you in a truck with the Nigerians. It would be far too dangerous," he replied.
He told me that he had got into the business because there was no other way of making money in this remote outpost, 1,200km from the capital Bamako.
But the networks are tightly organised - before agr
eeing to be interviewed on the record, he said he would have to consult the "union". Its leaders refused.
Even the authorities did not want t
o discuss the ma
tter.
On
e of Gao's most senior officia
ls merely told me: "In this new era of liberalism, the state no longer interferes in such areas."
Local discontent
But although people smuggling generates badly-needed revenu
e for the town, not everyone is pleased.
Some of those trying to get to Europe run out of money and engage in prostitution to pay their way.
I was told that we would be flying from Bamako to France... I don't want to cross the desert, it's too dangerous
Lovett
From what I saw, it seemed to be organised by the Nigerian men.
When I started speaking to some women, a man sitting in the corner of the compound shouted at them and they ran away like children who had been scolded by their parents.
One told me that she had been tricked into go
ing to Gao.
"I was told that we would be flying from Bamako to France. I don't want to cross the desert, it's too dangerous,&q
uot; said Lovett. <b
r>
While some pro
stitutes can be seen at night wearing thei
r low-cut tops by the side of Gao's sandy streets, others hang out at a bar they have nicknamed Europe.
"Let's go to Europe," they say with a bitter sense of irony, knowing that their real target remains a long way off.
n
Gao is a strongly Islamic town and some religious leaders have not taken kindly to the rise of prostitution and alcohol, which has accompanied the arrival of the migrants.
One has apparently used his weekly sermons to urge the authorities to ensure that the foreigners respect the town's traditions, or make them leave.
Gao's deadly migrant trade
BBC News Online's Joseph Winter is tracing the route of an African migrant, Mamadou Saliou "Billy" Diallo, who made it to Europe after a long and dangerous journey across the Sahara. Here, in the second of five articles, he visits the Malian town of Gao - from where thousands set off across the desert hoping to make it to the West.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Malian town of Gao has been at the centre of cross-Sahara trade for hundreds of years.
In the 15th and 16th Centuries, it was the capital of the Songhai empire, which stretched from Senegal to Nigeria.
<
r>Not everyone in Gao has taken kindly to the arrival of migrants
Gold, salt, dates and slaves used to be the most lucrative goods, taken in camel caravans across the desert by Touareg nomads, protected
fr
m the elements by the indigo turbans wrapped
around their faces.
These days, a new commodity has emerged - people. They are no longer slaves captured from the countries south of the Sahara by raiding parties but willing passengers fleeing the poverty and instability of their home countries.
Mamadou Saliou "Billy" Diallo paid some $430 to be taken from the Mali capital Bamako to Morocco and like many others he passed through Gao.
The West and Central Africans bound for Europe try to stay hidden, knowing that theirs is an illegal journey. But they are not hard to find.
Ask any Gao resident where the "travellers" or "Ghanaians" (although most come from Nigeria) are and they will point out house after house, where they are staying, waitin
g for their onward transport.
In pictures: Sahara gateway
Their accommodation will normally be organised by the Gao-based people smugglers, who in turn hand them over
to t
he T
ouaregs, wh
o are still masters of the desert and know routes which avoid the official border cro
ssing-points.
When they venture outside the mud-wall houses, those from coastal countries, such as Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia are usually obvious.
They tend to be shorter and stockier than the tall, slender people who live closer to the Sahara, and they often wear brightly-coloured shirts, jeans and flashy jewellery instead of long flowing gowns.
One Touareg in Gao said that these "coastal people" often die because they do not know or understand the desert, unlike the Touaregs who live throughout the Sahara, whether in modern-day Mali, Niger or Algeria.
Unreported deaths
It is impossible to know how many people die trying to cross the desert but in two weeks of sp
eaking to migrants in several countries, I heard many similar tales.
Billy's journey started in Dakar, Senegal, and ended more than five months later in Brescia, Ital
y. Josep
h Winter
has been tracing h
is route.
Enlarge Map
A Nigerian man called Papa, who said he was a guide for other migrants, sai
d he had once found the bodies of 120 people and 60 on another occasion.
They had run out of water and died of thirst in their convoy of vehicles.
Binta from Niger said that she had been part of a group of six people who had walked across the desert for two weeks.
She said that one woman had fallen sick. The others had carried her for two days before they too started to tire and they abandoned her.
The next group of migrants had found her dead body several days later and buried her.
These are extremely remote areas, with not a police station or clinic for thousands of miles.
The only passers-by are other illegal migrants or people
smugglers and so these deaths are rarely reported.
Even if they are, many migrants do not carry identity papers, so it is difficult to know who should be informed.
Mou
ssa Sakho fr
om Mali told me that one o
f his cousins had died in similar circumstances several years ago but he had not yet told the family.
I suspect that the bones
of thousands of migrants lie beneath the desert sand.
Organised networks
Those involved are only too well aware of the risks.
This guide - who does not want to be identified - has walked the desert for days
I told one of Gao's biggest people smugglers that I wanted to cross the desert.
"Well, I couldn't put you in a truck with the Nigerians. It would be far too dangerous," he replied.
He told me that he had got into the business because there was no other way of making money in this remote outpost, 1,200km from the capital Bamako.
But the networks are tightly organised - before agr
eeing to be interviewed on the record, he said he would have to consult the "union". Its leaders refused.
Even the authorities did not want t
o discuss the ma
tter.
On
e of Gao's most senior officia
ls merely told me: "In this new era of liberalism, the state no longer interferes in such areas."
Local discontent
But although people smuggling generates badly-needed revenu
e for the town, not everyone is pleased.
Some of those trying to get to Europe run out of money and engage in prostitution to pay their way.
I was told that we would be flying from Bamako to France... I don't want to cross the desert, it's too dangerous
Lovett
From what I saw, it seemed to be organised by the Nigerian men.
When I started speaking to some women, a man sitting in the corner of the compound shouted at them and they ran away like children who had been scolded by their parents.
One told me that she had been tricked into go
ing to Gao.
"I was told that we would be flying from Bamako to France. I don't want to cross the desert, it's too dangerous,&q
uot; said Lovett. <b
r>
While some pro
stitutes can be seen at night wearing thei
r low-cut tops by the side of Gao's sandy streets, others hang out at a bar they have nicknamed Europe.
"Let's go to Europe," they say with a bitter sense of irony, knowing that their real target remains a long way off.
n
Gao is a strongly Islamic town and some religious leaders have not taken kindly to the rise of prostitution and alcohol, which has accompanied the arrival of the migrants.
One has apparently used his weekly sermons to urge the authorities to ensure that the foreigners respect the town's traditions, or make them leave.