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Agadez is a sand-colored sprawling city on the edge of the Sahara desert

1100 kilometres from the capital of Niger, Niami.

Here the road runs out and the desert begins.

Each year thousands of Africans arrive hoping that this will be their gateway to a better life.

This is the Agadez main bus station

and you will find here many groups of nationalities, of migrants, on their way to Northern Africa

to use what we call here, four-wheel drive cars, cut-cut.

I'm just checking out if I can find a group of migrants on their way.

The flow of migrants north from Sub-Saharan Africa has provoked intense debate in the countries they target,

with calls for tighter border control.

In this BBC World Service series, I look at the issue from an African perspective.

I'll be trying to find out what drives so many people to leave their homes and venture into the unknown.

What dangers do they encounter on the way?

And who are the shadowy figures who guide and transport them, exploiting their desperate dreams?

Over the next three weeks, I'll be tracing the steps of some of the people I meet here.

I love going to Europe to be an educated girl.

My English name is Fates.

Where you have Fates, there is nothing that will happen to you.

...