Senegalese President Macky Sall has ordered emergency measures to stem the growing flow of migrant departures, his services said on Wednesday evening, November 8. Mr. Sall asked the government for “emergency security, economic, financial and social measures in order to neutralize the departures of emigrants from the national territory,” states a press release published after the council of ministers. The effort must involve the ministers of the interior, the armed forces, youth and fisheries, according to the press release, which also refers to the national strategy to combat irregular migration presented in July by the government.
Senegal, a West African country that President Sall is trying to put on the path to emergence, is facing a flood of departures by sea to the Canaries, a Spanish archipelago and gateway. from Europe. The press reports several times a week on the arrival of canoes in the Canaries, interceptions or rescues in the Atlantic, off the coast of Senegal or in the waters approaching the archipelago. This dangerous migration gave rise to a series of tragedies.
Since the beginning of the week, the press has once again reported the disappearance of a considerable number of migrants who left Bargny, on the coast east of Dakar. AFP was unable to obtain confirmation of these disappearances from the authorities. The migration issue has become a theme of the ongoing campaign for the presidential election in February 2024. The Prime Minister, Amadou Ba, is the candidate of the presidential camp to succeed Mr. Sall.
The Canaries have seen a record number of migrant arrivals since 2006, with 30,705 people arriving between January 1 and October 31, more than double (111%) compared to the same period last year, according to the latest figures from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior. Two-thirds come from sub-Saharan Africa, according to the European coast and border guard agency Frontex. The Senegalese are, with the Moroccans, the most numerous among the new arrivals, according to Frontex and several Spanish NGOs.