Spain to ramp up surveillance operations on Senegal, Mauritanian coasts to curb illegal migration

Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Spain’s Interior Minister, indicated Monday October 16 the country’s civil guard will step up surveillance operations on the coasts of Senegal and Mauritania in view of curbing illegal migrations from the two African countries.
Grande-Marlaska made the announcement following a meeting held in Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous territory facing waves of arrivals of migrants from Senegal and Mauritania.
The Spanish official announced that a Spanish Guardia Civil Police plane would be deployed to monitor the waters around both African countries.
A second plane, he said, will be deployed to reinforce the waters around the archipelago, he also added.
12,500 migrants had been prevented from making the journey so far this year as part of cooperation with Senegal and Mauritania. The number of arrivals by sea to the Canary Islands has increased 80% compared to the same time last year, Interior ministry figures indicate.
Grande-Marlaska, last week during an address to the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), highlighted the external dimension of migration policy as one of the objectives of the Spanish presidency, with the aim of promoting cooperation with the countries of origin and transit of migration “in the fight against the mafia gangs that traffic in people”.
Last week, the European Union granted Mauritania 10.5 million euros to help address illegal migration.