African migrants in overcrowded pickup trucks, encouraged by social media messages from friends who survived the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, set off from Agadez, an ancient trading town on the edge of the Sahara, to cross Niger in the uncertain journey towards Europe via Libya, where the collapse of the government has offered an open door for smugglers. Mostly young men, escaping grinding poverty in neighbouring Benin or Burkina Faso, face bandits and often have to pay bribes en route, on top of the hefty payments to people smugglers. International focus on the issue of migration into Europe has sharpened after hundreds of migrants drowned while trying to cross the sea from North Africa in overcrowded and unsafe vessels.