Algerian Interior Minister Nour Al Din Badaw said that his country turned from a transit country for migrants into their residence of thousands of migrants coming from African sahel. He blamed the state of insecurity dominating the neighboring states, including Libya, Mali and Niger.
He said that African migrants in Algeria are mostly from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso and have come to escape acute poverty and terrorism back home. Some use Algeria as a transit country en route to Europe via neighboring Libya. "That's great news, I will be happy if I can work under the framework of the law," said a young Malian working illegally in a housing project as a mason in Ouled Fayet, west of Algiers.
He stressed that Algeria has embarked on politically sensitive reforms to modernize its still largely state-run economy, but it has been hit hard by a crash in oil prices that has deprived the country of more than half of its revenues. The migrants already present in the economy tend to work illegally and are very often underpaid, human rights groups say.
Some economists doubt the government's plan will make much difference to Algeria's workforce, while others view it as a way to further monitor traffic across its southern borders, where Islamist militant groups are active. "The goal of most of the migrants is definitely to reach the El Dorado in Europe," economist Arslan Chikhaoui told Reuters. "Algeria is still only a transit destination."
He called the neighboring states to take serious measures to contain the phenomenon as soon as possible, stressing the need for containing the security situation in these countries to pave the way for containing the phenomenon during the coming period.
He stressed that the increasing number of migrants from the neighboring states poses serious threat against his country during the current critical period, adding that the current economic situation does not tolerate the increasing pressure from the illegal migrants.