Spain PM heads to West Africa as migrant arrivals surge

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez heads on a three-day visit to West Africa on Tuesday, as his government grapples with a major upsurge in migrant arrivals.

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Nearly every day, Spain’s coastguard rescues a boat carrying dozens of African migrants towards the Canary islands off the northwest coast of Africa. The islands’ government has pleaded for more help.

Sanchez’s tour will take him to Mauritania, The Gambia and Senegal, three key countries in the migration crisis.

It was not known what incentives he could offer — notably to Mauritania, the main departure point, which he visited six months ago — to encourage authorities to step up efforts to prevent migrants from leaving. Madrid estimates there are some 200,000 people in Mauritania waiting to go to the Canaries.

Fernando Clavijo, the regional leader of the islands who met Sanchez on Friday, urged the European Union to do more “so that the Canary Islands do not have to shoulder all of Europe’s migratory pressure on its own”.

“In the end, it’s a pressure for Europe because they are arriving in Europe, in Spain, and not just on the Canary Islands,” he said.

The Canary Islands and Spain tend to be a stopping point for West African migrants who head for France and other European countries.

– ‘Verge of collapse’ –

Between January 1 and August 15 this year, 22,304 migrants reached the Islands, compared with 9,864 in the same period in 2023 — an increase of 126 percent, according to interior ministry figures.

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Across all of Spain, there were 31,155 arrivals up to mid-August, a 66.2-percent increase on the 18,745 a year earlier.

Numbers are expected to increase as autumn ushers in better weather conditions for navigating the Atlantic.

Last year saw a record 39,910 arrivals, but current levels suggest 2024 will set a new record, confirming the Atlantic route to the Canaries as the main conduit for migrants, despite its dangers.

The archipelago is “on the verge of collapse,” Clavijo said in an interview published Monday in El Mundo newspaper, predicting arrivals could reach 50,000 this year.

The Atlantic route is perilous due to the strong currents, with thousands of deaths and disappearances every year on overloaded, often unseaworthy boats.

But this is not the only part of Spain to be affected by an upsurge in arrivals, with the tiny enclave of Ceuta also experiencing a sharp rise in newcomers in recent weeks.

Located on the North Africa coast, Ceuta and its fellow enclave Melilla, have long been a magnet for Africans fleeing violence and poverty and seeking refuge by crossing Africa’s only land border with the EU.

For these areas, the main problem is unaccompanied minors who cross alone and cannot legally be sent back. Their presence has had an impact on Spain’s domestic politics.

– Abandoned –

Although adult migrants are the financial responsibility of the central government, those under 18 are cared for by the regions where they are housed.

The frontline regions have been inundated by the surge in minors. In the Canaries, the regional government is caring for 5,100 foreign minors despite only having capacity at its centres for 2,000.

The situation is similar in Ceuta.

To resolve the problem, Sanchez’s government in July tried to push a modification of the immigration law through parliament that would have given it the power to share out minors across all of Spain’s 17 regions.

But the right-wing Popular Party, the far-right Vox and Carles Puigdemont’s Catalan separatist party JxCat, which has also taken a hard line on illegal immigration, blocked the text from being discussed.

When he met Sanchez on Friday, Canary Islands’ Clavijo only secured a fresh pledge for 50 million euros, the same sum the islands’ received for the past two years. He says his administration has spent 150 million euros so far this year.