We work hard to orient, control, limit, punish and organize migrations here, on the other side of the world creatively called Sahel, there are other realities to deal with. For example, there is Emanuel, Liberian by birth, who used to often stop by to say hello and ask for advice and above all help. He hadn’t been seen for a long time because he was imprisoned for a year for an unlikely story. He was released yesterday, thanks to a pardon received, in order to decongest the civil prison of Niamey whose population has grown unsustainably in recent years. He survived only because of the miracles that multiply without showing it in these parts of the world which is poorly structured for such misfortunes. He had to pay the ‘king’ of the cell for a bed measuring several tens of square centimeters. Washing was an occasional daily adventure. While in Europe people buy Christmas, often denying it in reality, Camara, originally from the Ivory Coast, returns to the limelight after a few months. Expelled from Morocco, Algeria and then thrown into the desert, he had landed with the intention of finding himself among the twists and turns of life. He was among those who had been fished out of the sea by the Moroccan coast guard. He had seen the other shore from afar and since then he had never forgotten it. He says that, once he returns to his country, he will prepare personal and travel documents to leave regularly for the other side. He is looking for something to cover himself with from the coolness of the nights spent near the offices of the International Organization for Migration. He says that he hasn’t eaten for a couple of days and that, to cheat his stomach, he drinks endless water. He is waiting for a gift for Christmas. While in Europe we question ourselves about gender identity and marriage in general is looking for an author they stop by to say hello to Celestine and Boa. They will get married at the end of the month in the cathedral in Niamey. She is Togolese and he is Liberian, with an adopted son perhaps waiting for others who will perhaps arrive, as migrants like everyone else, on this land which becomes an exile for too many people. They met here, both foreigners in this country that after being in the news headlines for a few days has quickly returned to the sand where it came from. It will certainly not be their marriage that will change the fate of the military coup that keeps the president elected, dubiously, imprisoned until now in 2021. There will be no honeymoon given the closure of the borders that persists so far. The bride and groom’s rice will be set aside for cooking. While in Europe the path of life has been lost and the ephemeral has been adopted as the only horizon, our friend Khalifa, of Libyan origin, arrives breathlessly. He fled his country due to religious persecution after choosing to become Christian. Imprisoned, beaten and threatened with death, he escapes to Algeria and from there, expelled as usual by the military, he fortunately arrives in Niamey and presents himself at the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees. Welcomed by the officials, he receives in exchange a laminated sheet with his name, the date of arrival, an identification number and then nothing more. He does not leave the office that centralizes services and, tired of not eating or sleeping, he agrees to stay in the house of his friends in Togo. He passes because he too hasn’t eaten for a few days and fears returning to the country. The essential thing for him is food and a cross around his neck. While proxy wars are being waged in Europe, more and more money is being invested in manufacturing, the purchase and sale of weapons. In the tacit hypocrisy accepted and reproduced by a large part of the compliant media, we present ourselves to the world as champions of law and peace. Nobody believes in it anymore because the promises of justice, equity, solidarity and common good have long been abandoned or thrown away. Here we feel and suffer the consequences of subcontracted weapons, wars and geopolitics. Millions of people with the right to live find themselves in the category of displaced, refugees, abandoned, forgotten and liquidated on the altar of political, religious and above all economic interests. The God, taken hostage by one side of the powers or the other, is with the children of Sierra Leone who don’t even have a manger here.
