Africans risk lives in small fishing boats bound for Spain

NOUADHIBOU, Mauritania – Facime Diarra journeyed hundreds of kilometres from his native Guinea to this West African port and boarded a wooden fishing boat bound for Spain, dreaming of making enough money to buy a tractor for his family back home.

He lost everything except his life when the boat sank and about 30 of its 45 passengers drowned. Yet now he’s looking for another boat, and is odd-jobbing around town to earn the fare.”I’ll go again,” the 18-year-old said, though this time in a convoy of boats for safety.Nouadhibou, on the Mauritanian edge of the Sahara Desert, has become the latest departure point for Africa’s boat people.The fishing port is full of men like Diarra telling stories of thwarted voyages to Europe, terror on the ocean and plans to try again.Illegal immigration has become the route for many amid a broad crackdown on immigration across the prosperous European Union.France’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday voted 367-164 for a tough immigration reform bill that clamps down on entry for unskilled workers and allows officials to select the best and brightest candidates from abroad.The bill was presented by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, now on a tour of some of the African countries from where many would-be immigrants embark.The fast-tracked bill goes next to the Senate, which is expected to take it up early next month.With routes through Morocco being gradually sealed, the rising wave of African migration to Europe has been pushed hundreds of kilometres south, the start of a perilous 1 000-kilometre voyage in open boats to Spain’s Canary Islands.The Mauritanian option is cheaper – about US$600 for a spot in a boat, compared with more than US$1 800 for overland passage.Also, the Sahara route means carrying a passport, while most West Africans can enter Mauritania with only an identity card.Spanish authorities, who plan joint sea patrols with the Mauritanians, say the Canary Islands have intercepted more than 6 100 migrants since January, compared with 4 751 for all of 2005.Hundreds have died on the voyage so far this year.But Diarra is undaunted.”You enter Europe or you end up back here, or you die.It’s chance,” he said.”Here” is a dusty, bustling place where a Guinean like Diarra mixes easily among Senegalese fishermen, Malian market vendors and desert nomads.The borders of this vast region, drawn by 19th century European colonials, are hard to police and family ties spill across them.Even when the Mauritanians capture an illegal migrant, there’s little they can do but let him go or ship him to his country’s border and leave him there, knowing he’ll soon be back.Police Chief Yahfdhou Ould Amar said around 14 000 people from other West African countries live in Nouadhibou, and he believes most are waiting to go to Spain.Mohamed Ould Mahfoud, head of Nouadhibou’s military police, said some are caught before they set off, including men on their second try.”But you can be sure that 100 to 200 people are going in boats each night.”The police have only two patrol boats, one of them broken, to cover 27 kilometres of coast.The migrants travel on large, canoe-shaped boats called pirogues, equipped with two outboard engines and loaded with food, water and gasoline.Built to carry six to eight people on a fishing trip, they are crammed with least 40 people for the voyage north.It takes about three days if nothing goes wrong.But survivors often tell of getting lost, breaking down and spending up to 10 days on open ocean.”We were only 250 kilometres from Spain when our engine broke,” Diarra said.”We spent four days there in the water without moving.We didn’t have food.We were drinking sea water.”The Moroccan navy found them and towed their boat back to Mauritanian waters, but didn’t take them ashore, he said.”They left us there in the pirogue, so we started to use our hands as oars to move the boat.But the waves were large, and everyone tumbled into the water.”There were so many dead.Everyone was crying.”Diarra and others – most men in their 20s – say they just want a chance at a better life.- Nampa-APYet now he’s looking for another boat, and is odd-jobbing around town to earn the fare.”I’ll go again,” the 18-year-old said, though this time in a convoy of boats for safety.Nouadhibou, on the Mauritanian edge of the Sahara Desert, has become the latest departure point for Africa’s boat people.The fishing port is full of men like Diarra telling stories of thwarted voyages to Europe, terror on the ocean and plans to try again.Illegal immigration has become the route for many amid a broad crackdown on immigration across the prosperous European Union.France’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday voted 367-164 for a tough immigration reform bill that clamps down on entry for unskilled workers and allows officials to select the best and brightest candidates from abroad.The bill was presented by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, now on a tour of some of the African countries from where many would-be immigrants embark.The fast-tracked bill goes next to the Senate, which is expected to take it up early next month.With routes through Morocco being gradually sealed, the rising wave of African migration to Europe has been pushed hundreds of kilometres south, the start of a perilous 1 000-kilometre voyage in open boats to Spain’s Canary Islands.The Mauritanian option is cheaper – about US$600 for a spot in a boat, compared with more than US$1 800 for overland passage.Also, the Sahara route means carrying a passport, while most West Africans can enter Mauritania with only an identity card.Spanish authorities, who plan joint sea patrols with the Mauritanians, say the Canary Islands have intercepted more than 6 100 migrants since January, compared with 4 751 for all of 2005.Hundreds have died on the voyage so far this year.But Diarra is undaunted.”You enter Europe or you end up back here, or you die.It’s chance,” he said.”Here” is a dusty, bustling place where a Guinean like Diarra mixes easily among Senegalese fishermen, Malian market vendors and desert nomads.The borders of this vast region, drawn by 19th century European colonials, are hard to police and family ties spill across them.Even when the Mauritanians capture an illegal migrant, there’s little they can do but let him go or ship him to his country’s border and leave him there, knowing he’ll soon be back.Police Chief Yahfdhou Ould Amar said around 14 000 people from other West African countries live in Nouadhibou, and he believes most are waiting to go to Spain.Mohamed Ould Mahfoud, head of Nouadhibou’s military police, said some are caught before they set off, including men on their second try.”But you can be sure that 100 to 200 people are going in boats each night.”The police have only two patrol boats, one of them broken, to cover 27 kilometres of coast.The migrants travel on large, canoe-shaped boats called pirogues, equipped with two outboard engines and loaded with food, water and gasoline.Built to carry six to eight people on a fishing trip, they are crammed with least 40 people for the voyage north.It takes about three days if nothing goes wrong.But survivors often tell of getting lost, breaking down and spending up to 10 days on open ocean.”We were only 250 kilometres from Spain when our engine broke,” Diarra said.”We spent four days there in the water without moving.We didn’t have food.We were drinking sea water.”The Moroccan navy found them and towed their boat back to Mauritanian waters, but didn’t take them ashore, he said.”They left us there in the pirogue, so we started to use our hands as oars to move the boat.But the waves were large, and everyone tumbled into the water.”There were so many dead.Everyone was crying.”Diarra and others – most men in their 20s – say they just want a chance at a better life.- Nampa-AP