Spain PM heads to West Africa as migrant arrivals surge

Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez heads on a three-day visit to West Africa on Tuesday, as his left-wing government grapples with a major upsurge in migrant arrivals, notably in the Canary Islands.

Nearly every day, Spain’s coastguard rescues a boat carrying dozens of African migrants towards the islands which are located off the northwestern coast of Africa.

The upsurge has left the Atlantic archipelago feeling increasingly abandoned by Madrid and Brussels.

Sanchez on Tuesday starts a three-day tour to the main countries concerned: Mauritania, The Gambia and Senegal.

It was not known what incentives he could offer — notably to Mauritania, the main migrant departure point, which he visited six months ago — to encourage the authorities there to step up efforts to prevent migrants from setting sail.

Fernando Clavijo, the Canary Islands’ regional leader who met Sanchez on Friday, said he believes there are “more than 150,000 refugees” ready to set sail from Mauritania’s coastline.

And he urged the European Union to take its share of responsibility “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 just the first stopping point for West African migrants who usually head to other European countries, notably France.

Arrivals in the past year have more than doubled — between 1 January and 15 August 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.

The number of migrants increased across the whole of Spain with 31,155 arrivals to mid-August, a 66.2-percent increase on the 18,745 a year earlier.

And recent history suggests the upward trend is only likely to increase as the autumn ushers in better weather conditions for navigating the Atlantic waters.

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

The route is particularly perilous due to its strong currents, with thousands of deaths and disappearances every year as people seek to cross in overloaded, often unseaworthy boats.