With our correspondent in Niamey, Moussa Kaka

The first special flight of Nigerian beggars repatriated from Ghana landed this Wednesday. On board were 558 people. Everything is in place for their reception: biometric identification and distribution into buses that will take them back to their region.

"This is a group that used to go to Algeria in the past, but for some time now no longer heads in Algeria's direction because of the arbitrary deportations they receive there," Minister of Humanitarian Action Laouan Magagi explains to us.

Begging and child trafficking are prohibited in Niger. This time nearly 356 minors were on the journey sponsored by 202 adults. "Unfortunately, there is trafficking, people rent children—and pay the parents—so they can go begging," adds Laouan Magagi.

Adama Moustapha is blind. He was walking the streets of Accra, accompanied by his grandson: "It was famine that drove us from the country. Thank God, today we can return. We will not go back to Ghana."

With her baby astride her hip, Zenabou tries to justify herself: "When you see someone leave their country to beg, it means things are not going well. We do not beg with a light heart. It is not good."

These repatriated beggars come essentially from the Zinder and Maradi regions.