When 24-year-old Oumar Bella Diallo boarded a flight back to Guinea in July, he believed the worst was behind him. After a harrowing year-long journey through Mali, Algeria, and Niger—marked by police brutality, extortion, and scenes of death in the desert—he had finally given up on his dream of reaching Europe. But months after returning home under an International Organization for Migration (IOM) program funded by the European Union, Diallo and many others say they have been abandoned to face trauma, debt, and family disappointment with little of the promised support.
Jocomms Correspondent reports that Diallo is one of tens of thousands of migrants repatriated through the IOM’s voluntary return initiative, which offers free flights and reintegration assistance. However, returnees in Guinea and The Gambia told the Associated Press that they have received little to no help since coming home. Some, including Diallo, said they were given only a brief orientation course and the phone number of a counselor who never responds. Others formed WhatsApp groups with dozens of frustrated members, sharing similar experiences of unfulfilled aid and bureaucratic silence.
Diallo, who injured his foot during his failed migration attempt, says his repeated requests for medical support and business funding have gone unanswered. With the weight of caring for his family as the eldest son of a single mother, he now struggles to rebuild his life. As disillusionment grows among returnees who feel betrayed by a system meant to help them, many are asking—could this neglect push a new wave of young Africans to risk the perilous road to Europe once again? Visit www.jocomms.com for more news.
