Displaced People in North Africa

They come from all across sub-Saharan Africa, as well as from Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan, and as far away as Bangladesh. They are arriving by the tens of thousands in Libya and Morocco in a courageous effort to survive and find hope in Europe.

In 2015 one million people crossed the Mediterranean from Libya into Italy, Turkey into Greece, and Morocco into Spain. In 2018, only about 115,000 crossed, mostly from Morocco to Spain. So many were drowning by 2018 that the Mediterranean has become the world’s deadliest sea.

In 2019, the UNHCR provided aid to 55,000 Malians in Mauritania, 8,000 Africans in Morocco, 9,000 Africans and Syrians in Algeria, 1500 refugees in Tunisia, and 1.5 million migrants and returnees in Libya. In addition, the UNHCR supports 90,000 refugees from the Western Sahara in Algeria.

African migrants in North Africa are often desperately poor, treated badly by locals, and in Libya they are vulnerable to violent gangs who randomly kill and enslave them.

Francis and Rosalind fled from Northern Nigeria in 2016 after Boko Haram destroyed their Christian village. After staying in a UN refugee shelter in Niger for several months, they were told they had to return home. Instead, they made a dangerous, gruelling, three-month, 3,000-mile trip in a cattle truck across the Sahara, through Niger and Algeria, to Tunisia.

Their son was born while they were in Tunisia. Francis worked in construction, and Rosalind worked as a maid. They saved $3,200 USD and bought space in a smuggler’s inflatable boat to Italy. They nearly drowned when their boat overturned, but they were rescued by the Italian coast guard and taken to the tiny island of Lampedusa. After four months living in the streets, they were transported to Spain aboard the volunteer rescue ship Aquarius and have applied for asylum. They are grateful to God to be alive and are desperately praying that Spain will let them stay.

All five North African nations hosting these displaced peoples are Muslim and not very welcoming to Western Christian workers. However, sub-Saharan African migrant Christians often make up the majority of those in expatriate churches in North Africa, so Westerners in these churches assist migrant members. Christians working for the UNHCR and other NGOs specializing in serving migrants are also ministering to them.

There are numerous media ministries in Arabic, French, and English, the languages of most migrants. Migrants can access Christian programming on their phones on Facebook, WhatsApp, and other platforms. Response to the Gospel among migrants and refugees is quite positive – when people are desperate, they have no one to lean on besides God. However, follow up and discipleship is very difficult. Many churches across Europe are creatively ministering to migrants and refugees arriving from North Africa.