Out Of West Africa Risky By Sea But "There is no alternative"

The Economist November 28th 2020 pp42 |Middle East & Africa| Migration from west Africa| “Africa’s do-or-die boat people”. “Desparate to reach the Canary Islands, hundreds of migrants are dying at sea.”

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Young men more than in recent history are taking to sea out of Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Senegal and even Morocco on shaky transport for a journey of up to 1,500 km to the Canary Islands (Spain) in the ultimate hope of making "Barcelona or Death!”. One mother commented “No mother in the world wants to see her son go through that ordeal. “But we must not stop them. There is no alternative.” The spike in attempts comes on the heal of increasing unemployment caused by COVID, overfishing by EU commercial fishing concerns in territorial waters sanctioned by their governments for licensing fees, and even due to Jihadist violence in Mali from where 30% of the men originate. “18,000 migrants have arrived in the Canary Islands” up tenfold from 2019. Along the way the official death toll is probably twice or more of the official toll of 529. Much safer to cross the shorter span from north Africa to Spain or Italy but land routes in Africa require crossing closed borders. The Canarians are worried as the men are sleeping on the streets with some being accommodated in hotels (5,000) and there’s a plan to house 6,450 in a tent city that is being built. To stem the surging tide of migrants, Spain has stepped up repatriation flights to Mauritania from where men are bused to the border of Senegal or Mali and “dumped there.” As for the men, 31YO fisherman Beytir, comments “I want to leave to earn a living to look after my mama-to show her the love I have for her.”

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