Spanish authorities report 1,325 Immigrants arrived in the country’s Canary Islands off Africa’s west coast by ship this weekend — with one carrying a single-boat record of 321 people.
Authorities say all who arrived were from sub-Saharan Africa.
SpainThe Ministry of the Interior has already documented 23,537 arrivals in the Canary Islands between January 1 and October 15 — an 80% increase on last year. This weekend’s arrivals also come on top of a a two-week record of 8,561 arrivals since October 1 — the largest since a previous immigration wave in 2006.
Images broadcast on Spanish TVE on Saturday showed a brightly colored wooden boat filled with smiling migrants waving as they arrived at the port on the island of El Hierro.
In total, 783 migrants landed in El Hierro, 150 in Gran Canaria and 98 in Tenerife. The International Red Cross said women and children were among the arrivals, although the vast majority of arrivals were young adult men.
Spain says Sahel destabilization is driving migration
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlasca, who visited the archipelago of seven Atlantic islands last week, said the rise in illegal arrivals was directly linked to the political “destabilization of the Sahel”.
The Sahel region has seen a series of military coups in recent years, with the countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Gabon, Yes, Niger and Sudan are now all ruled by military juntas.
The Canary Islands have become a preferred destination for desperate migrants hoping to reach Europe from Morocco and Western Sahara from The EU has strengthened control crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
Morocco and Western Sahara are relatively close to the Canary Islands (100 km, 60 mi), while other migrants have started more dangerous journeys from Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia, which are about 1,000 kilometers apart.
At least 1,000 people have died along the route this year, according to the Walking Borders charity.
On Thursday, Spain’s deputy immigration minister announced that the country would provide the Canary Islands with around 50 million euros ($53 million) in emergency funding to help local governments deal with the “extraordinary migration flow” facing them.
js/rc (AFP, Reuters)