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Spain: Over 1,300 African migrants reach Canary Islands

October 22, 2023

Authorities in Spain logged a record number of illegal migrant entries this weekend, with 1,325 sub-Saharan Africans reaching the Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa. One boat alone carried 321 people.

https://p.dw.com/p/4XsgS
Scores of young African men on a migrant boat that illegally landed on the Spanish Canary Island El Hierro
Though some women and children were on board, the vast majority of migrants were young adult malesImage: Europa Press/ABACA/picture alliance

Spanish authorities say 1,325 migrants reached the country's Canary Islands off the western coast of Africa by boat this weekend — with one carrying a single-vessel record of 321 people.

Authorities say all of those who arrived were from sub-Saharan Africa.

Spain's Interior Ministry has already documented 23,537 Canary Islands arrivals between January 1 and October 15 — an 80% increase over last year. This weekend's arrivals also come on top of a record two-week tally of 8,561 arrivals since October 1 — the most since a previous migration wave in 2006.

Images broadcast on Spain's TVE television Saturday showed a brightly colored wooden boat overcrowded with smiling migrants who waved as they reached port at the island of El Hierro.

In all, 783 migrants landed on El Hierro, 150 on Gran Canaria, and 98 on Tenerife. The International Red Cross said women and children were among the arrivals, though the vast majority of arrivals were young adult males.

Spanish authorities transferring African migrants who illegally landed on El Hierro onto a large ship so that they can be taken to another island for housing
Migrants had to be transferred from El Hierro to other islands after reception centers were overwhelmed by the sheer number of arrivalsImage: Europa Press/ABACA/picture alliance

Spain says Sahel destabilization driving migration

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who visited the seven-island Atlantic archipelago last week, said the spike in illegal arrivals was directly linked to the political "destabilization of the Sahel."

The Sahel region has seen a spate of military coups over the past several years, with the countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Gabon, Mali, Niger and Sudan now all ruled by military juntas.

The Canaries have become a preferred destination for desperate migrants hoping to arrive in Europe from Morocco and Western Sahara since the EU tightened control of passage via the Mediterranean Sea.

Morocco and Western Sahara are relatively close to the Canaries (100 kilometers, 60 miles), whereas other migrants have embarked on far-riskier journeys from Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, which are roughly 1,000 kilometers away.

At least 1,000 people have died along the route this year according to the charity Walking Borders.

On Thursday, Spain's acting migration minister announced the country would provide the Canary Islands with some €50 million ($53 million) in emergency funding to help local governments cope with the "extraordinary migration flow" confronting them.

Mourning dozens who drowned on their way to Spain

js/rc (AFP, Reuters)