Niger Migrant Deaths: Three Days Of Mourning

The Niger government has announced three days of national mourning for 92 migrants who died trying to cross the Sahara desert.

The government reportedly said it was "profoundly moved" by the tragedy and that the country would "pray for the memory" of the 52 children, 33 women and seven men who died.

Their decomposed bodies, some of them eaten by jackals, were found last week, a few miles from the border with Algeria where they were believed to be heading.

The victims are thought to have died of thirst in the desert

They are thought to have died of thirst after two vehicles they were travelling in broke down and they went in search of water.

During the mourning period, which begins on Friday, flags will fly at half-mast across the territory of the deeply poor west African country in tribute to the victims, who all came from Niger.

A security source said that 21 people out of 113 managed to survive. Two of them arrived in the north Nigerien uranium-mining town of Arlit and 19 reached Tamanrasset, but were sent back to Niger.

Most of the victims were women and children

A woman who came from south Niger and allegedly organised the journey was detained by security forces in Tamanrasset, where she lived, and sent back to Arlit, where she was locked up, the security source said.

Niger is one of the world's poorest countries and regularly faces food crises, leading many to try and flee the country abroad.

Migrants are often found dead in the north African desert, frequently abandoned by people smugglers to their fate, but not usually on the scale of the latest tragedy.

The UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that at least 30,000 economic migrants passed through Agadez, northern Niger's largest city, between March and August of this year.

Libya, rather than Algeria, is generally the favoured country of transit for west Africans making the journey across the continent, many aiming to travel on to Europe.

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