Migrants in limbo as Mauritania’s expulsion drive overwhelms border town

In the dusty border town of Rosso,straddling the frontier between Mauritania and Senegal,the humanitarian burden is growing heavier by the day as waves of deported migrants arrive with nowhere to turn. Weeks into Mauritania’s intensified crackdown on undocumented migrants,hundreds—many hailing from Guinea,Mali,Senegal,Gambia,and Côte d’Ivoire—find themselves stranded in harrowing conditions. Without identity papers,they cannot re-enter Mauritania,nor cross officially into Senegal,and are left to navigate a purgatory marked by hunger,illness,and despair.

Eyewitness accounts paint a grim picture. Many migrants speak of arbitrary arrests,physical abuse,and the seizure of personal belongings. “They beat us,arrested us without warning,and deported us like criminals,” one man recounted from the Senegalese side of Rosso,his voice laced with fatigue. Aid workers,already stretched thin,describe an unrelenting influx—two buses a day,each filled to the brim. Makeshift shelters without electricity or running water are overflowing,as grassroots volunteers scramble to assign community leaders by nationality in an effort to manage the crisis. Yet the need continues to outpace the means.

While Mauritanian officials maintain that the expulsions comply with international law,regional leaders and humanitarian advocates are raising alarms. “This is not deportation; this is abandonment,” said Diallo Amadou Oury,a Guinean community leader in Senegal. Many of those expelled had been living and working in Mauritania for years,some with families still there. Critics argue the expulsions reflect a troubling new phase in EU-backed border enforcement policies,prioritising deterrence over dignity. As Rosso’s slums swell and aid resources dwindle,the human cost of this geopolitical calculus is playing out in plain sight.