Almost 170 migrants have returned to Senegal after spending nearly every week in limbo on a Spanish rescue boat
ByZANE IRWIN Related Press
DAKAR, Senegal — Almost 170 migrants returned to Senegal on Wednesday after spending nearly every week in limbo on a Spanish rescue boat.
Deputy Mayor Lamine Ndiaye confirmed 168 migrants have been safely transferred from a Spanish vessel to Senegalese authorities. They have been anticipated to reach in Dakar by sea Wednesday night.
Since Thursday, the migrants had been caught aboard a Spanish Civil Guard vessel close to the northwest African nation of Mauritania after authorities there refused to allow them to disembark, in line with Spanish media.
The Civil Guard is certainly one of two nationwide police forces in Spain. For years, it has labored with native authorities in Mauritania and Senegal to attempt to forestall migrants from trying to succeed in Spain’s Canary Islands, an archipelago within the Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of Africa.
The crew on the Tagus River Civil Guard boat spent days at sea with the survivors, and at a number of factors fired gunshots into the air to quell riot makes an attempt, in line with a publish retweeted by the official Spanish Civil Guard account on X, the social media platform previously often known as Twitter.
In current months there was a surge of migrants departing from Senegal, who should navigate north previous Mauritania to succeed in the Canaries. Mauritanian authorities declined to touch upon why the migrants have been barred from disembarking on its shores.
Worldwide maritime legislation mandates that any particular person present in misery at sea have to be rescued and dropped at the closest place of security, and that asylum seekers shouldn’t be forcibly returned to a rustic the place they may face persecution.
In an announcement Tuesday, the Spanish Fee for Refugees (CEAR) requested Spanish authorities to not convey the migrants again to Senegal, since “the present political and social scenario in Senegal may be very delicate and will put these individuals in danger.”
Tensions have lately run excessive in Senegal, the place a preferred opposition chief’s arrest in July spurred violent unrest.
Tens of 1000’s of individuals throughout West Africa board rickety wood boats sure for Europe yearly. Many search to flee political unrest, youth unemployment and worsening situations for fishing and farming.
The route from West Africa to Spain is among the world’s most harmful. Almost 1,000 migrants died whereas making an attempt to succeed in Spain by sea within the first six months of 2023, says Spanish rights group Strolling Borders.