Gold rush, migrant crisis overwhelms Niger's arid Arlit town

Migrants in Niger

Migrants on March 29, 2023 queue outside the IOM information centre near the transit centre in Arlit, Niger, a town whose population has doubled due to a gold rush. PHOTO | STANISLAS POYET | AFP

The short dusty street in Arlit, a mining town in Northern Niger, is a sad and seedy place.

Faces of young women, many of them from Nigeria, appear in the cracks of doorways offering their bodies in exchange for money.