Photo: Collected
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.
Messenger/Disha
