This report is based on field research carried out in northern Niger in February and March 2017, in Chad (N’Djaména and north-eastern Chad) between January and March 2018, and in Niger and Tunisia in April 2018, and on many interviews conducted with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in France since 2017. Migrants were interviewed on their journeys in Niger and Chad as well as after they arrived in Europe. Other informants included members of Niger, Chad, Sudan and Libya’s civilian authorities and security forces, members of Sudanese and Libyan militias, members and former members of Chad and Darfur rebellions, migrant smugglers, and gold miners. International actors, including European Union and EU member states representatives, were also interviewed in both Europe and Africa. Interviews in France with migrants who had completed their travels usefully compensated the lack of access to Sudan, Libya and some parts of the Chadian territory.

Interviews, in particular with the migrants, were most often conducted in the interviewee’s mother tongue, including Chadian and Sudanese Arabic, Tuareg, Hausa, Kanuri, Tedaga (Tubu), Dazaga (Goran), Beria (Zaghawa), Fur and Masalit. We were assisted by several research assistants and translators, including Adam Abubakar Abdulkarim, Mehdi Labzaé, and several others who prefer to remain anonymous but whose work should be acknowledged. We also anonymised most respondents, given the sensitive nature of the topic under study.