afrol News, 13 September - According to Spain's Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, the Madrid government had been able to assist in the detention of more than thousand persons and uncover more than 700 mafia gangs engaged in trafficking in Senegal and Mauritania, thanks to the many new liaison officers Spain had been able to establish along the coast of sub-Saharan Africa.

Ms Fernández de la Vega revealed this during a speech in the Spanish Senate. She further announced that the eight Southern European countries lying off the coast of Africa are to hold a summit of their Interior, Defence and Foreign Minister in Madrid on 29 September to discuss joint action against illegal immigration to the region.

While the central government of Spain has faced much criticism for not acting tough enough against the wave of migrants - in particular from the autonomous Canary Islands, which are receiving most West African migrants - the Deputy Prime Minister held that Madrid was very active to stop the phenomenon.

Among Spanish government actions to stop illegal immigration had been the insistence of help from the European Union (EU), Ms Fernández de la Vega said. This had resulted in the creation of "a rapid response team, the establishment of FRONTEX [an EU agency assisting in joint patrolling of the external borders of member states] and the funding of reception centres in Mauritania and patrols together with Senegal."

"The team of anti-mafia liaison officers has been able to detain more than thousand persons and stop more than 700 mafia groups in Senegal and Mauritania," added the Deputy Prime Minister.

The Spanish government during the last year has been active in signing bilateral agreements with West African governments, seeking to jointly stop the wave of migrants. Stopping the flow to mainland Spain through Morocco - following political concessions to the Rabat government - migrants started making the dangerous boat trips to the Canary Islands from Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and Cape Verde.

The Spanish government now widely cooperates with these four governments, including policing of potential trafficking, patrolling of the West African coast and the return of illegal migrants. Spain further has started to cooperate with hinterland countries such as Mali and Guinea - believed to be the origin of many of the migrants - initialising development aid projects.

Ms Fernández de la Vega in her speech to the Senate further said that the Spanish government had tripled the budgets of the Ministry of the Interior for border controls during the last two years and, finally, requested that all political parties make an effort to find a common approach to the arrival of illegal immigrants because "we will have to resolve this problem between all of us."

By staff writers

© afrol News

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