MADRID: Calm seas and mild winds related to the late summer season within the Atlantic Ocean off Western Africa has prompted a renewed surge of migrants heading to the Canary Islands, native authorities stated on Thursday (Sep 19).
Spain intercepted 4 boats carrying 222 migrants early on Thursday, along with the 13 vessels with 780 migrants that had already reached the islands this week, the Spanish maritime rescue companies stated on the platform X.
“The beneficial sea circumstances are driving a big enhance in arrivals,” Fernando Clavijo, the Canary Islands’ regional president, stated on state-owned tv.
The circulate of migrants to the Spanish archipelago, which has 2.2 million inhabitants, has raised tensions between the regional administration and the central authorities over the care of about 5,000 underage migrants.
Spanish regulation requires native authorities to deal with migrants aged below 18, however infrastructure within the Canary Islands is overwhelmed and Clavijo has repeatedly requested the central authorities to pressure different areas to assist.
Clavijo stated he was optimistic the left-wing minority authorities was near a take care of the conservative Individuals’s Celebration (PP) to permit the switch of under-age migrants to the Spanish mainland. A earlier try to achieve a deal prompted the far-right Vox get together to stroll out of coalitions with the PP.
PP’s chief Alberto Nunez Feijoo met Italy’s Prime Minister Meloni on Thursday. Previously, he has praised her onerous line on migration.
Within the first seven months of 2024, the variety of migrants crossing from Africa to the Canary Islands practically doubled from the identical interval final yr to 26,758, information from Spain’s Inside Ministry exhibits.
Final month, Clavijo stated charity teams estimated that as many as 150,000 extra migrants have been getting ready a crossing from Western Africa.
In Italy, in contrast, the variety of migrant arrivals has fallen following a pact between the European Union and Tunisia final yr.
Italy plans to open migrant processing camps in Albania within the coming weeks.
