Programme Erasmus + Europe on the move : Migration Biographies Essays-Biographies
Youssuf is 29 years old and is a political refugee from Senegal that took three years to arrive in Italy . The duration is closely related to the economic question .
None of the migrants has all the money immediately , so it is necessary to stop in the various countries to work and earn new resources to continue the journey . His crossing was slow and complex . Characterized by the constant insecurity that the status of nilful refugee determines .
He escaped from Casamance , the southernmost region of Senegal , because he was forced : it is since 1982 that this area has been shaken by a separatist conflict . Although the civil war is , to date , under control , the episodes of banditry in the villages are the order of the day . " They come , they take you money and what you have . They often kill someone too . The rebels are uncontrollable "
Salif Sadio is the head of the Senegalese rebellion and it is he who still carries on a conflict that has little to do with politics .
Youssuf explains that some companies organize trips from Senegal , via Mali and Burkina Faso , to Niger . Libya is too dangerous and refugees who arrive there are abandoned in the hands of local organizations . " From Casamance you can in the city of Tambacounda , from where you can make contacts to leave Transport is not expensive , this is the expensive journey are the unplanned outlays that the checkpoints , corrupt cops or bandits determine . the police , the agents are searching you and undressing you to see if you have hid some money ... If you do not have it , they will beat you or keep you from continuing ... I have been beaten and humiliated several times ".
" It is normal to go to jail , it is often the same driver to take us in . I do not know how to explain it , it is a sort of trade , they are human traffickers , they sold us to the police , not so well because they would jail you in Tripoli and then they relocate you to other cities ". Youssuf says that the worst moments lived in Libya . Immediately he had to deal with death . The police that has them in custody was attacked by a group of guerrillas . A gunfight broke out : I found shelter from the chaos of dust and bullets under a canopy , and the agents , from there , tried to repel the attack . At the third policeman who saw himself fall in front of him , Youssuf was sure to die . Only the intervention of another squadron of police allowed to get them alive to the prison . Overall , Youssuf was in prison for 4 months . During this month , for a month and a half he received 10 centiliters of
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