Algeria Resorts to Foreign Media to Prove ‘Humane’ Treatment of Deported Migrants

Migrants pay to head north into Algeria at the Assamaka border post in northern Niger on June 3. – PHOTOS: AP
Migrants pay to head north into Algeria at the Assamaka border post in northern Niger on June 3. – PHOTOS: AP
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Algeria Resorts to Foreign Media to Prove ‘Humane’ Treatment of Deported Migrants

Migrants pay to head north into Algeria at the Assamaka border post in northern Niger on June 3. – PHOTOS: AP
Migrants pay to head north into Algeria at the Assamaka border post in northern Niger on June 3. – PHOTOS: AP

Algeria’s government called on foreign media correspondents working in the country to cover the deportation of hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants, which will take place this week, from cities in the north to the border with Niger.

Authorities aim to “show” international media waves of deportation, hoping to deliver an alleged ‘tolerance’ they practice in dealing with illegal immigrants, and is a response to sharp criticism of international human rights organizations on this issue.

A French newspaper correspondent told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Algerian Ministry of Information had asked him for the first time foreign media to directly cover the process of deportation.

The correspondent explained that he will be travelling with the Algerian Red Crescent Society, which oversaw preparations for the deportation of about 400 migrants to the border with Niger, coming from several countries on the African coast, including Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

He said the ministry had invited him to prepare for the trip to document the process of deporting asylum seekers, but did not mention the exact date. “I was informed that the process will be before Thursday,” he said.

An Interior Ministry source said the call to cover the new deportation did not include local press.

“We wanted the foreign press, which takes what foreign rights organizations publish as an absolute fact, to be a witness against serious allegations,” referring to accusations facing Algeria for the ill treatment of migrants.

The source defended Algeria’s right to maintain its national security, especially in light of the phenomenon linking unregistered immigration to drugs, human trafficking, terrorism and arms trade.

International reports condemned Algeria's abandonment of migrants in the Algerian Sahara.

Algerian officials said the deportation process has cost the national treasury some 12 million dollars while pointing out that more funds will be allocated within days to finance new deportations.

It is worth mentioning that Algerian authorities did not heed calls made by international organizations and the UN Human Rights Council to stop the mass deportation of migrants, especially asylum seekers and construction workers, who are in the thousands.

Algeria provides no figures for the expulsions. But the number of people crossing on foot to Niger has been rising steadily since the International Organization for Migration (IOM) started counting in May 2017, when 135 people were dropped at the crossing, to as high as 2,888 in April 2018.

According to the IOM, a total of 11,276 men, women and children survived the march.



Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

 A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
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Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

 A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)

A notorious desert refugee camp in Syria has closed after the last remaining families returned to their areas of origin, Syrian authorities said on Saturday.

The Rukban camp in Syria's desert was established in 2014, at the height of Syria's civil war, in a de-confliction zone controlled by the US-led coalition fighting the ISIS group, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.

Desperate people fleeing ISIS extremists and former government bombardment sought refuge there, hoping to cross into Jordan.

Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government rarely allowed aid to enter the camp and neighboring countries closed their borders to the area, isolating Rukban for years.

After an opposition offensive toppled Assad in December, families started leaving the camp to return home.

The Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based organization, said on Friday that the camp was "officially closed and empty, all families and residents have returned to their homes".

Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on X on Saturday that "with the dismantlement of the Rukban camp and the return of the displaced, a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime's war machine comes to a close".

"Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert," he added.

At its peak, the camp housed more than 100,000 people. Around 8,000 people still lived there before Assad's fall, residing in mud-brick houses, with food and basic supplies smuggled in at high prices.

Syrian minister for emergency situations and disasters Raed al-Saleh said on X said the camp's closure represents "the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies faced by our displaced people".

"We hope this step marks the beginning of a path that ends the suffering of the remaining camps and returns their residents to their homes with dignity and safety," he added.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their places of origin since Assad's fall, after they were displaced within the country or abroad.

The IOM says the "lack of economic opportunities and essential services pose the greatest challenge" for those returning home.