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Agadez, Niger – Ousmane Kouyate* stands beside a petrol station on National Road 25 that runs through Agadez, more than 900km north of Niger’s capital Niamey.
The thin 25-year-old from Guinea is a “passeur” – a travel agent or, for some of the migrants and refugees passing through the city, a smuggler organising their journey to the Mediterranean on their way to European shores.
Wearing sunglasses and earphones under a baseball cap, he seems cautious and alert, even though he no longer needs to hide.
In 2016, Niger’s previous government, under heavy pressure from the European Union,…
