The determine exceeds the earlier excessive through the migration disaster of 2006, when 31,678 migrants disembarked within the Canaries.
Spain’s Canary Islands have set a brand new document for the variety of irregular arrivals to the archipelago, with greater than 32,000 migrants making the treacherous boat journey this 12 months up to now.
Most of them are from Senegal.
The islands, situated close to the African continent, have been used for many years as a stepping stone to Europe. Although the vast majority of arrivals are from Senegal, there are additionally boats departing from Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco and the Western Sahara.
In accordance with figures launched by Spain’s Inside Ministry and native emergency companies, a minimum of 32,029 individuals landed on the islands from January to November this 12 months, exceeding the earlier excessive set through the migration disaster of 2006 when 31,678 migrants disembarked within the Canaries.
Smugglers in Senegal pack younger individuals in search of higher alternatives in Europe into previous artisanal fishing boats. The journey from Senegal to the Canaries often takes every week of adverse upwind crusing for round 1,600km.
Migrant boats steadily shipwreck or disappear within the Atlantic.
To keep away from border controls alongside the coast, smugglers take longer journeys, navigating first west into the open Atlantic earlier than persevering with north to the Canaries – a detour that introduced many to the tiny westernmost El Hierro island, at instances overwhelming native authorities and emergency companies.
As soon as a beacon of democratic stability within the area, Senegal has been engulfed in socio-political unrest with violent clashes earlier this 12 months.
President Macky Sall’s embattled authorities has dissolved Ousame Sonko’s opposition social gathering, standard amongst younger voters. The political disaster together with an absence of jobs, rising meals costs and depleting fishing shares have precipitated 1000’s to depart the nation.
Confronted with a document variety of arrivals, Spain’s Inside Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska flew to the Senegalese capital of Dakar final week to press the federal government to do extra to cease boats from leaving.
Grande-Marlaska urged his Senegalese counterpart Sidiki Kaba to “act extra rapidly,” and keep away from extra deaths. At the least 512 individuals have died on that route up to now this 12 months in keeping with the Worldwide Group for Migration, although the determine is believed to be an unlimited undercount.
Spain has almost 40 police and civil guard officers, 4 boats, a helicopter and an plane deployed in Senegal to observe the coast and crack down on smuggling networks in collaboration with native authorities.
Madrid says the joint effort has efficiently stopped 7,132 individuals from leaving Senegal this 12 months.
In the course of the 2006 “cayucos disaster” – named after the big canoe-shaped boats from Mauritania and Senegal typically utilized by the smugglers – Spain signed agreements with 10 African nations to simply accept returned migrants and cease new boats from leaving.
Within the following years, arrivals to the Canary Islands declined and had been largely manageable till they spiked once more in 2020 because of elevated surveillance alongside the favoured Mediterranean Sea route, amongst different elements.