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South Asian migrants stranded in the wasteland of Sahara

Indians and Pakistanis are increasingly using Mauritania for entering Europe

Zouerat (Mauritania): There are no roads to this Sahara desert town, just tracks that 4x4s and iron ore trucks follow through the sand.

Yet, all over Mauritania people know that Zouerat is the place to find those who have travelled farthest to sneak into Europe through Africa — Indians and Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, all stranded after being abandoned by human smugglers in the desert with little water, no food and no passports.

``For five days we were alone in the Sahara,'' said Parminder Singh. The 26-year-old from India's Punjab region said handlers dumped his group after they were spotted by the Moroccan military. The 23 men made two litres of water last two days, then filled the bottles with their urine and drank. They had already lain down on the sand to die when they were found by Mauritanian soldiers, who deposited them in Zueat to await repatriation.

That was five months ago, and Mr. Singh said they've started to despair that they'll ever see an ad group's plane that was to return them to India.

Little choice

The local authorities allow them to live in an abandoned building on the outskirts of Zouerat. The Asians go door to door in this iron ore mining town of 34,000 asking for clothes to wash in exchange for money or meals — seeking handouts in one of the poorest countries in the world.

They say they know many who have made it to Spain through the desert. And they don't have much other choice — the smugglers kept the Indians' passports and other papers.

Asians are increasingly showing up in Zouerat — Mauritania's default holding tank for desert-stranded migrants — adding to the Africans that have been using the route to sneak into Europe for years. Local officials say they started finding Asian migrants in the Sahara in late 2004.

Zouerat police chief Sidi Salem said the Asian immigrants tend to stay months upon months, while the Africans are quickly deported or sneak off. Mauritanian authorities can't afford to send back the Asians, and so turned to a migrant aid group for help.

Mr. Salem said many are discovered near death after smugglers drop them off and tell them to walk the rest of the way to Europe.

``When [the smugglers] see the first city lights they stop. They say, `There's Spain. There's Morocco,''' then leave. ``Then the immigrants find themselves in Mauritania.'' — AP

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