This African migrant dreamed of reaching Europe. A phone call changed everything.
2018-01-01 09:42:50 source：The Washington Post
December 31, 2017
AGADEZ, Niger — Aziz Dicko knew the risks — or he thought he did. African migrants could drown trying to reach Europe. They could die of thirst in the desert.
But as the 17-year-old migrant waited in a smuggler’s compound in this north African city, he was pondering a new threat.
A week earlier, his 18-year-old brother had left the same compound, run by a bearded man known as “the Malian.” The teen was supposed to be driven to Libya, where he would get on a boat to Italy. But shortly after he left, Aziz got a frantic call: His brother had been sold to gunmen who were demanding cash for his release.
Now Aziz was planning to travel to Libya via the same smuggler.
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