N. V. SUKHOV Candidate of Historical Sciences Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences Keywords: illegal migration, smuggling, xenophobia, racism, human rights, integration of migrants and refugees, North Africa, Algeria, Morocco Massive flows of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have been heading through North Africa to Europe for a quarter of a century. Since 2005, the author has witnessed firsthand the development of migration processes in the Maghreb. The metamorphoses of African migration and the problems that arise in connection with them do not leave me indifferent even today, after the end of the mission to Morocco in 2012.* This article focuses on the complex of problems that gave rise to these changes in Morocco, which today has become a hub of migration flows. It should immediately be noted that we are talking about the problem of illegal migration, since Africans who have a residence permit and, accordingly, official work, are a minority in the total number of citizens of African states who are temporarily or permanently in the territory of the Maghreb countries. FROM THE EXODUS TERRITORY TO THE HOST COUNTRY Until relatively recently, the Maghreb countries (Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya) represented both a source of migration of their own population to Europe and a transit territory for residents of West and Central Africa. Both sought better educational and employment opportunities, fled poverty, political instability, conflict, and violations of their basic rights, and were driven away by natural disasters and environmental degradation. 1 The social and political upheavals in North Africa have not only led to internal transformations in the past three years, but also affected the balance of relations between the countries of the region, including the European Mediterranean. They have collectively influenced the nature and direction of South-North African migra ... Read more