Thousands of discouraged migrants stranded in Niger due to border closures after coup
Some 7,000 Africans who gave up on migrating to Europe have been stranded in Niger since the coup last month in which members of the presidential guard overthrew the West African nation’s democratically elected president NIAMEY, Niger -- After three months of crossing the desert and then watching other migrants die at sea in his failed attempt to reach Europe, Sahr John Yambasu gave up on getting across the Mediterranean and decided to go back home. The 29-year-old from Sierra Leone reached Niger in June on his return journey, but United Nations officials said he had to wait for packed migrant centers to empty before he could be repatriated. Then mutinous soldiers toppled Niger's president a few weeks later, bringing regional tensions and the shuttering of the border s. Yambasu was trapped. He is one of nearly 7,000 discouraged migrants trying to get home elsewhere in Africa that the U.N. estimates have been stranded in Niger since late July when members of the presidential guard o...