Alassane
When war broke out in his country, the Ivory Coast, in September 2002, Alassane lived with his family in the North, a stronghold of the Muslim rebels fighting against the government. The conflict forced more than one million people to leave, among them Alassane.
"I fled my home in the Ivory Coast and walked to the border with Mali. On the path, there were bodies lying: they were corpses".
From Mali, he set off to cross the dessert in a lorry: "The lorry was very small. We were 25 people inside. [...] I had people next to and all over me'". In addition to the heat, the harsh conditions and the duration of the trip, they were robbed during their journey.
He arrived in Algeria, from where he managed to cross into Morocco. He managed to save up some money there and hired a smuggler to help him reach the Canary Islands by boat. However, he was caught in a raid carried out by the Moroccan police.
"They left us in the dessert. [...] Some people died".
Around 1,000 migrants were apprehended, many of whom were sent back to their countries of origin. Alassane could not be returned due to the conflict in the Ivory Coast and therefore was left at the Algerian border, from where he headed to Casablanca, again by lorry.
"The lorry left us in the mountains to avoid the police and then picked us again. It took us a month to reach Agadir. We were extremely hungry and thirsty".
At the coast they boarded two boats. There was a strong swell and Alassane's boat turned around and went back. However, the other boat continued and subsequently capsized. "There were 48 onboard and only 4 people survived."
Alassane claims that he saw a helicopter belonging to the Spanish authorities and that the Moroccan police was waiting for them at the coast. Despite the failure of this attempt, Alassane decided to try crossing into Spain one more time.
"This time I made it; I spent four days on the sea before I arrived in the Canary Islands". He told the Spanish authorities that he was seeking asylum. Two years later he was granted humanitarian protection status.
To reach Spain, Alassane spent three years travelling. In comparison, the same trip by plane takes only 10 hours. Over the course of those three years, he went hungry, was robbed and arrested, and saw 44 people dying in the sea. He still believes he was lucky, he did not die.
(Source: CEAR)