Spain’s Sanchez departs for West Africa with the objective of mitigating the migration surge

On Tuesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez embarks on his second trip to West Africa of the year with the intention of reducing migration to the Canary Islands and opposing Russian influence in the Sahel.

According to figures from the European Union border agency Frontex, the number of persons migrating via the West African route has increased by 154% this year, with 21,620 people arriving to the Canary Islands in the first seven months.

Resources on the Spanish archipelago have been overextended by the surge, and local officials fear they may have to put migrants in military camps or even tents in anticipation of a spike in arrivals brought on by calmer weather in the Atlantic Ocean.

According to Spanish authorities, there could be up to 150,000 more African migrants planning the dangerous journey over the next few months.

Nearly half of the new entrants, according to Frontex data, are Malians who were driven from their nation due to an economic crisis and violence involving the Russian mercenary outfit Wagner.

Sanchez is concentrating on fortifying ties with the primary places from which migrant boats depart: Mauritania, Senegal, and Gambia. Mali’s borders are shared by the first two.

As part of Madrid’s plan to provide financial and security support to the places from which migrant boats sail, Spanish police have been strengthening border control in West Africa for a considerable amount of time.

According to a government source, Spain will negotiate circular migration agreements with Mauritania and the Gambia during this trip. It already has one with Senegal. These agreements will permit workers from these nations to temporarily enter Spain to meet labor demands before leaving for their home countries.

GO BACK TO MALI

Following the termination of the EU military mission in Mali in May of last year, Spain is also preparing to return there. According to a senior Spanish military commander, Spain is in talks with Bamako on bilateral military aid, whilst France pushed for the mission’s termination.

“We cannot allow Russian military to seize the area unoccupied. Maintaining a presence in the area is crucial, the officer told Reuters, requesting to remain anonymous.

According to the source, the training from the previous European mission might be continued by the Spanish mission.

The Ministry of Defense of Spain affirmed that discussions for cooperation with Mali were underway, but it did not elaborate.

In light of the surge in migration, Spain is pushing for increased attention to be paid to the global south, particularly the Sahel, inside the EU and NATO.

The co-director of the Institute for Conflict Studies and Humanitarian Action, Jesus Nunez Villaverde, stated that poverty and the consequences of climate change must be tackled in order to address the issues facing the Sahel.

“Militant aid is not the answer; it is just the same old, ineffective approach. He declared that “a different kind of aid is needed.”

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that as of July, over 3.1 million people had been forcibly removed from their homes in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger as a result of years of Islamist warfare in the Sahel.

Mali’s economic problems have gotten worse since the junta in charge took over in 2020.

According to Ousmane Diarre, the leader of a Malian NGO that promotes migrant rights, the main causes of migration among Malians are violence, unemployment, and the effects of climate change on farming communities.

Moussa Diaby Wage, a 20-year-old Mali native, traveled by boat from Mauritania to the Canaries in 2020.

Now that he has Spanish citizenship, he wants to enlist in the military. He assists other immigrant children in a Tenerife center for minors in the interim. Thirty of the fifty youths residing there were from Mali.

“We came here because Mali is at war, there is a lot of fighting in the north and many people have to make the decision to leave,” he stated to Reuters. “Most of those who come are young, very young, because it’s the only way to get a chance (in life)” .