Staff Writer
The rumor spread like a wave along a beach throughout the maritime city of Mbour.
Two boats carrying migrants who had set off towards Spain’s Canary Islands in the Atlantic in late June have vanished after traveling 1,500 kilometers (950 miles).
But the young Senegalese men who were so eager to start over in Europe seemed discouraged.
“Spain… We all wish to visit that place. I’ll get on the first boat that departs,” said Abdou, a man in his twenties. “You always find something to eat somewhere else if you’re hungry.”
His companions concurred as they sat inside a sheet metal-made seaside hut—a haven of peace amidst the bustling port.
“Whether you live here or die here, it’s all the same,” one stated. “There is neither work nor money here. Spain is the only option.
The most dangerous route taken by African migrants in their quest to reach Europe is the crossing to the Canaries.
It requires days of sailing in pirogues, which are motorized open canoes that are often seaworthy but overloaded and devoid of water, across perilous currents.
After Niger restricted migration over the Sahara and Europe increased surveillance on its southern coast, stifling the trans-Mediterranean route, attempts increased in late 2019.
In contrast to 8,853 over the same period in 2022, 7,213 individuals travelling aboard 150 boats landed in the Canaries this year’s first half, according to Spanish authorities.
According to Moustapha Ndiaye, president of the fishermen’s association in Mbour, attempts to cross the water usually increase between June and September, when the winds are more favorable.
He calculated that 10 pirogues had departed in the dark just this month.
On Thursday, a boat carrying 71 migrants was halted by the Senegalese navy, while a boat carrying 41 migrants made it to the Spanish archipelago.
Missing
Risk has increased with the growth.
Three boats with at least 300 migrants on board departed the Mbour region late last month, but there is no word of them, claims Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish NGO that tracks migrant flow. They are still being looked for by the coast guard.
According to the Senegalese government, 260 Senegalese who were “in distress… were rescued in Moroccan territorial waters” between June 28 and July 9. Eight people perished on Wednesday when their pirogue capsized off Saint-Louis, the northernmost town in Senegal.
Although many boats were just late and ended up returning home, Ndiaye noted that he had also heard “the rumor” of lost vessels.
“You never know what happens out at sea,” he remarked.
He claimed that either experienced seafaring fisherman or “businessmen” focused on maximizing profit skippered pirogues. For a successful crossing, they may make up to 20 million CFA francs ($34,000).
Poverty
Ndiaye and others cited boredom and poverty as the main drivers behind young people’s desire to immigrate to Europe.
He said that the government has contracts for large-scale industrial fishing with European and Asian trawlers. “The young are leaving and there are fewer fish.”
Mouhamadou Barro, the head of a panel on migration in the MBour region, declared that “our young people need work.”
“Undercover migration cannot be stopped by the police or gendarmes,”
Stories of people who made the risky voyage, found job, saved money, and built themselves a house back in Senegal feed the fantasies of the young.
Trying to reach the Canaries in 2020, 29-year-old married father of one Ousmane said that their yacht had been detained by the Spanish coastguard.
He left without notifying anyone after promising to try again as soon as he could.
He said, “I don’t have any other choices.”
According to Mame Elimane Ndoye, 69, his oldest son left on June 29, also known as “the day of Tabaski,” a significant Muslim holiday.
Ndoye remembered, “He bought a big ram for his dad,” which would be sacrificed for the family supper.
He told me when he came to visit me that he wanted to be with his pals there. I therefore assured him that I would pray for him, and this really boosted his spirit.
Ndoye admitted over the phone that “the trip was hard.” “The wind was strong. For three days, they shut off the engine. Then they showed up.
“If by God’s will he finds work, if he sends back money, if it is received, it will be split among everyone,” he continued. He will make us proud. He’ll manage, I know him.
