Annaba: Upsurge in “Harga” or illegal immigration during Ramadhan

During this holy month of fasting of Ramadan, the “harraga” or illegal migrants resumed anew their attempted crossings from the coasts of Annaba and El Tarf to rally the Italian island of Sardinia, which is at a distance of just over a hundred miles from the Algerian coasts.

These unemployed youngsters, dismayed by the vicissitudes of life, risk everything by embarking on a night sea crossing with all the dangers entailed.

There were thousands who had ventured in such dangerous crossings from 2007 to 2011 and many young people, hundreds of them, haven’t returned back home as their shredded and bloated bodies, without identity, were rejected by the sea on both sides of the Mediterranean basin.

This phenomenon of “Harga” or illegal immigration began its decline in the first half of 2011 after the enthusiasm of young people for different insertion formulas to access employment and the draconian measures taken by the European coastguards to curb these incoming death boats in coordination with the police and the gendarmerie.

But the end of 2015 and early 2016 saw the dream of hundreds of young Algerians fade away for access to a better life after the end of their job contracts and due to the constraints of the economic crisis, they were compelled to opt for a “harga” with no return, literally as well as figuratively.