Impeccable sources close to the Ministries of Foreign affairs and Interior have told The Alkamba Times that at least twenty-four (24) Gambian migrants living in three different European Union (EU) countries including Germany are expected to be deported home to the Gambia today, Tuesday, March 8 after exhausting all efforts to get their asylum approved.
The 24 Gambians, according to our sources have not been engaged in any form of violence or crimes in any of the EU countries they reside, disclosing that their only crime was ‘ they have exhausted all their chances of getting asylum approved by their host countries after many attempts of the failed application process.’
“Our association, the Gambia Refuge Association, Europe Branch have been informed by different medium and reliable sources that tomorrow on the 8th of March, 2022, there will be mass deportation from EU to the Gambia. Twenty people from Germany and other four people from other EU countries but the flight will take off from Germany,” Yaya Sonko, Spokesperson of Gambia Refugees Association told TAT.
Last year, The Gambia blocked flights returning migrants deported from the European Union saying the country cannot reintegrate the returning migrants.
He added: “The other four people will be coming from Belgium, Italy, and Denmark and as far as we know their only crime is, they exhausted all their chances in terms of asylum”.
According to him, ‘as far as the Gambia Refugee Association is concerned the only known crime these 24 Gambians deportees committed is they exhausted all their chances of getting asylum in Europe, arguing that exhausting one’s chances of getting asylum cannot qualify as a crime.’
The Gambia has formally blocked flights returning migrants deported from the European Union. Banjul argues that the country cannot reintegrate them
“If that is the case then let us expect more deportation of Gambians from the EU countries. We have more than four thousand Gambian living in Germany who have all exhausted their asylum chances,” Sonko, the Association PRO disclosed to The Alkamba Times.
He called on the relevant authorities to handle the issue of the migrants with care as most of them find it very difficult to resettled back home once deported.
” many deportees are finding it very hard to resettled due to lack of finance and the enabling environment to starting a new life back home,’ He added.
