"The Algerian Police Took... All Our Documents And Then Beat Us. They Do That to Everyone"

Posted to the web 4 August 2008 Gao Abdoulaye (not his real name), 27, tried to illegally migrate from Mali to Spain a few months ago, but he was intercepted by the Spanish authorities in northern Morocco and sent home. Since then he has been living in Gao, the last big town in Mali before the Sahara crossing, trying to scrape together enough money to try again. "I left Gao for Spain. Crossing the desert took several weeks and was a terrible experience, but it's worse when you get to Algeria. The Algerian police took our passports, all our documents, and then beat us and took us to the police station. They do that to everyone who arrives. "From Algeria I had to get to Morocco, and that journey was full of problems too. It takes twelve days from the Mali-Algerian border to the Morocco border - twelve days of desert without... [read full story]