200 immigrants sent to Málaga from the Canary Islands

[Ambrosio Spinola]

Typical reaction by PC concerned goverments. Since inmigrants due their outmost to destroy any evidence that would allow a deportation to their lands of origin (if such an deportation agreement exists to begin with). Hordes of inmigrants out of lack of space in the crowded retention centers are just being released into the main european traffic from which point they just "disapear" into the great ilegal market.


By h.b.
Thu, 25 May 2006, 08:41

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/uploads/immigrantsarriving.jpg

Immigrants arriving on the Canaries in a Cayuco - Archive Photo EFE

An estimated 200 Sub-Saharan immigrants have been abandoned in Málaga after being brought here from the Canary Islands.

The last group of twenty arrived at the airport on Monday this week with just their admission document for identification.

Currently they are being looked after by the immigrant support organisation ACCEM which will try and advise them.

The Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, said yesterday that such transfers to the mainland were being made after consultations with the government offices in each region and also respecting human rights.

[Felix the Cat]

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/06/01/Barbados.deathboat.ap/index.html

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- They left Africa on Christmas Eve seeking a better life in Europe, climbing aboard a rusty boat that instead carried them to their deaths as they drifted off course, crossed the Atlantic Ocean and wound up near the Caribbean island of Barbados.

By the time this boat was found by a fisherman on April 30, the bodies of the 11 young men were virtually mummified by the sun and salt spray. One had written a farewell note before dying.

"I would like to send to my family in Bassada (Senegal) a sum of money. Please excuse me and goodbye," one of the victims wrote in a note tucked between bodies.

The note appeared to be written by a Senegalese man named Diao Souncar Dieme and contained the contact numbers for his brother and for his best friend, Barbados Attorney General Dale Marshall told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

With transit routes to Europe through Morocco being gradually sealed, migrants are taking to the seas farther down the coast of northwest Africa, some traveling in overcrowded fishing boats more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) in stages to reach Europe.

The boats often get lost or break down, drifting helplessly in the Atlantic or capsizing in rough seas. Typically, canoe-shaped boats built to carry six to eight people on a fishing trip, are crammed with dozens of people and supplies for the voyage north.

The boat found off the coast of Barbados apparently left Senegal with 52 people aboard, Marshall said.

"This is the end of my life in this big Moroccan sea," the disoriented passenger wrote.
Drifted 2,000 miles west

Instead of being off the coast of Morocco, his boat had drifted more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) west to Barbados.

The white 20-foot (6-meter) boat, streaked with rust and capped by a small wheelhouse, was apparently bound for Spain's Canary Islands, a gateway to Europe located in the Atlantic about 200 miles (323 kilometers) off Morocco's southern coast.

Spanish authorities have launched two investigations into the ill-fated voyage, Spanish police told The Associated Press.

The first was begun by Interior Ministry police in Barcelona after a complaint was filed by El-Haji Sano, a Senegal-born resident of the city in northeast Spain whose brother Malang was believed on board the vessel. Another investigation is under way on the Canary Islands, police said, adding that they have asked Interpol for help.
A thousand have died bound for Canaries

Authorities on the Canary Islands say they have intercepted nearly 7,000 migrants since January, compared with 4,751 in all of 2005.

More than 1,000 are believed to have perished attempting the journey from Africa to the Canary Islands since December, according to the Red Cross in Mauritania, a favored departure point for the boats.

The northwest African coastline is notoriously hard to police for illegal migrants. Family ties spill across borders drawn across the western edge of the Sahara Desert by 19th century European colonials.

Mauritanian authorities believe about 14,000 people from other West African countries are living in the capital of Nouadhibou as they wait to go to Spain.
Spaniard suspected of organizing voyage

For the boat found off Barbados, it's unclear where many of the passengers were from, though officials presume they were Senegalese, Marshall said. Police found currency in euros, a travel itinerary and airline ticket from Senegal Airways in the boat.

Spanish police have asked Interpol to help find a Spaniard who lives in the Canary Islands who allegedly organized the ill-fated trip and charged the would-be migrants between euro 1,200 and euro 1,500 euros ($1,540 and $1,930 U.S.) apiece, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported Sunday.

While the search might one day provide a measure of justice, many migrants already organize themselves rather than turn to professionals.

A Barbados funeral home is holding the bodies of the 11 would-be migrants.

"The issue is really trying to identify who these individuals are," Marshall said.

An Interpol team has examined the boat and the bodies. Barbados has asked for a second team, including fingerprint experts, pathologists and a dentist, to investigate further, Marshall said.

Barbados authorities said the names Ibrahima Dieme and Omar Badje appeared in the goodbye note.