ON THE BORDER

“The plastic sticks to the trees, just as the West sticks to the Sahel zone,” says the mayor of Agadez, referring to the Sahara desert littered with plastic bags right in front of his doorstep. In this city in northern Niger, the EU has been trying for years to prevent migrants from continuing their journey to the Mediterranean. Gerald Hauzenberger and Gabriele Schild accompanied people who live in this traditional caravan city. How do they see the situation? In the end, the presence of the West proves to be far less permanent than the mayor assumed.