By Saio Marrah
Migrants who got stranded in Niger and other North African Countries, and then eventually brought back home, have staged a protest at the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s office in Freetown over their reintegration package.
Dozens of the migrant returnees were seen protesting outside the gate of the IOM New Signal Hill Road chanting that the time for their reintegration package was long overdue.
They were not seen holding placards, but some were violently banging on the gate of the UN agency.
One of the affected persons, Dickson Bangura informed Politico that he was deported from Algeria to Niger, before their group of about 148 was brought to Sierra Leone on 26 May 2023.
According to him, IOM in Niger told him that when he would have been flown to Sierra Leone then he would receive his integration package in three months’ time.
“It has been over eight months now and I have not received the reintegration package,” he said. He also pointed out that out of that number, less than 30 persons have received their packages.
Bangura also noted that there are three groups some of whom returned in March, May and June last year, but majority of all the three groups have not received theirs.
Responding to what IOM had said to them, he said they have always been told to wait.
He however noted that initially when they were returned to Sierra Leone, IOM took to them to clean beaches where they were paid New Le 200 each day and it lasted for ten days.
Bangura said before he and others were returned to Sierra Leone,some were imprisoned, and he spent about two months and two weeks in incarceration in Algeria ,then transferred to Niger, where he spent six months before he was brought to Sierra Leone.
In his reaction, the Head of Sierra Leone IOM Country Office in Freetown, Christos Christodoulides, described Sierra Leone as a key country to IOM.
According to him, there is a high number of Sierra Leoneans who found themselves in a vulnerable situation and stranded in foreign countries like Mali, Niger and North Africa.
He said there has been a high number of the returnees from that country saying that what IOM do is to help the stranded migrants in given situations, where there might not be another option for them to consider voluntary return to their country of origin.
Christodoulides said the Assisted to Voluntary Return and Reintegrate (AVRR) programme which they are implementing in Sierra Leone is in collaboration with the government.
He admitted to delay in approving the reintegration package but insisted it is not unique and that the AVRR is a complex process.
He asserted that after the said protest, IOM sorted out what he called “bottle neck administrative issues” but claimed the caseload is huge. He said their staff are doing their best to be there at the disposal of the returnees.
Commenting on what took them so long beyond the stipulated three months for the completion of the packages, he said the returnees also have their part to play as they need to adequately complete their project proposals.
Commenting on the allegation that the June returnees got their packages before the earlier returnees, he said special considerations were given to those with special needs. These he said include pregnant women, and the elderly with critical medical conditions.
The IOM head also advised that people use normal travel routes instead of engaging in dangerous routes known as ‘temple run’ with the risk of losing their lives.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (05/02/24)
