Mauritania, Spain pledge cooperation on migration

NOUAKCHOTT — Mauritania and Spain have agreed to strengthen cooperation to combat people smuggling and promote legal migration, during a visit by Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose country is facing a surge of migrant arrivals.

The two countries expressed "their commitment to work together to promote safe, orderly and regular migration" and guarantee "the fair and humane treatment of migrants", in a joint declaration signed Tuesday evening.

During a meeting with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, Sanchez said a key aim of the declaration was to combat human trafficking, Mauritania's national news agency reported.

Nearly every day, Spain's coastguard rescues a boat carrying dozens of African migrants towards the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa.

The Atlantic route is perilous due to the strong currents, with thousands of deaths and disappearances every year on overloaded, often unseaworthy boats.

Spain and Mauritania also signed a memorandum of understanding on "circular migration", in which Spain will make its labour needs known to the West African country which will select candidates for work.

The "pilot project" will initially last one year, with a particular focus on young people and women.

Sanchez arrived in Mauritania's capital Nouakchott on Tuesday, marking the start of a three-day trip that also takes in The Gambia and Senegal, three key countries in the migration crisis.

Madrid estimates there are some 200,000 people in Mauritania waiting to make the crossing to the Canaries.

Between January 1 and August 15 this year, 22,304 migrants reached the Islands, compared with 9,864 in the same period in 2023, an increase of 126 per cent, according to interior ministry figures.

Across all of Spain, there were 31,155 arrivals up to mid-August, a 66.2-per cent increase on the 18,745 a year earlier.

Immigration is not a problem

On Tuesday evening, Sanchez stressed the importance of fighting against illegal people smugglers and managing migration in a "humane, safe and orderly way".

"Not so long ago, Spain was also a country of migrants," he said, adding that "immigration is not a problem, but a necessity that comes with certain problems".

"We must fight against the mafias that trade in human beings and play with human lives," and those who "take advantage of the terrible conditions and desperation of those who resort to irregular migration", Sanchez said, as reported by Mauritania's news agency.

Since 2014 at least 4,857 people have died or disappeared while trying to reach the Canary Islands, according to the UN's International Organisation for Migration.