Niger’s military government – which seized power last July – announced on Monday evening that it would revoke a 2015 bill that had curbed the illegal transportation of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa into Europe by criminalising smugglers.

The bill had led to a “significant decrease of irregular arrivals” into the EU, according to Johansson, who said on Tuesday she was “very concerned” about the junta’s decision to abrogate the law.

“I very much regret this decision and I am very concerned about the consequences,” she said.

“There is a huge risk that this will cause new deaths in the desert, and that’s the most concerning thing. But that will also probably mean more people coming to Libya, for example, and then maybe also trying to cross the Mediterranean to the EU,” she added.

Millions of forcibly displaced people, porous borders and organised crime groups make Niger and the wider Sahel a convenient corridor for migrant smugglers between sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb. 

Many migrants continue from countries such as Libya and Algeria by embarking on the dangerous onward journey across the Mediterranean Sea to southern Europe.

Niger had become a key EU partner in the region, with Niamey set to receive over €503 million in EU funding between 2021 and 2024 for initiatives including migration management projects. The bloc had also established a working arrangement between Niger and Frontex, the EU border agency.

A significant share of that funding was funnelled towards the implementation of the so-called 2015-36 counter-migrant smuggling law, which involved the seizure and dismantling of smugglers’ infrastructure in northern Niger.

The law also criminalised the practice of transporting non-Nigerien citizens into or out of Niger for financial or material gain, making it punishable by five to ten years’ imprisonment and a fine of between one and five million West African francs (€1,520 to €7,601).

Humanitarian groups had fiercely opposed the law as a manifestation of Europe’s heavy-handed influence on Africa and a blow for communities in northern Niger, particularly in the city of Agadez, where many relied on migrant business for their livelihoods.

But since military rebels violently overthrew the democratically-elected government of President Mohamed Bazoum in July, the EU has suspended all security cooperation with Niamey and has sanctioned coup leaders.

EU cooperation with Niger on migrant management has also halted, with the exception of one UN programme for evacuating refugees from Libya to be resettled in Tunisia, according to Johansson.

“Otherwise, most of our cooperation (with Niger) is not continuing,” she said.

Johansson is spearheading the EU’s major migration reform, the so-called Pact on Migration Asylum. The European Commission has in recent months upped its cooperation with third countries to address what it calls the “external dimension” of migration, most notably as part of a controversial deal with Tunisia designed to clamp down on smuggling operations.

The Commission says the Tunisia deal could serve as a blueprint for similar agreements with countries such as Egypt or Morocco.

But the violent coup in Niger – seen as the last bastion of democracy in the Sahel region, where a row of states have in recent years toppled into the hands of military juntas – was seen as a major blow to EU efforts to tackle irregular migration at its root.

The bloc is concerned the repeal of the law by the military regime could lead to a resurgence of trafficking gangs.

On Tuesday, Johansson also presented proposals for new EU laws to crack down on criminal smuggling networks, including tough penalties for perpetrators.

“Our message to the smuggling gangs today is clear: we are coming after you with the full force of the law to stop you from making easy money from suffering people,” she said.