According to aid workers, all of the new arrivals were from sub-Saharan Africa.
Spanish officials and rescue personnel reported over the weekend that more than 1,000 migrants from Africa arrived in Spain’s Canary Islands on Saturday alone, including a crammed boat that had a total of 321 individuals.
The wooden boat that arrived on the island of El Hierro on Sunday broke the previous record of 271 on October 3 in terms of the number of arrivals on a single vessel, according to the International Red Cross, which was quoted by Reuters.
The Red Cross claimed that a total of 783 passengers arrived in El Hierro, 98 in Tenerife, and 150 in Gran Canaria, with the bulk of them being young adult males, although there were also women and children.
All of the arrivals were from sub-Saharan Africa, an unnamed emergency services spokesperson told AFP.
As a result of the Saturday arrivals and the recent spike in illegal immigration, the Canaries are currently experiencing a migration crisis. The seven islands of the Atlantic archipelago have emerged as the main entry point for migrants seeking to reach Spain, with a surge in attempts this year from Senegal and other African countries. An organisation that supports refugees called Walking Borders stated in July that 951 people lost their lives trying to cross into Spain in the first half of 2023.
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23,537 migrants entered Spain’s Canaries between January 1 and October 15, according to the most recent figures from the interior ministry of Spain. 8,561 people arrived in just the first two weeks of this month, which is the largest in a fortnight since a previous migratory wave in 2006.
Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the interior minister of Spain, has attributed the rise to the “destabilisation” of the Sahel’s political situation. Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Gabon, Mali, and Niger are all currently governed by the military in the West African region. According to the UN, since mid-April, Sudan, which also experienced a coup in 2021, has been embroiled in an armed war that has resulted in the deaths of up to 9,000 people and the displacement of more than 5.6 million others.
The Canary Islands will get emergency money of €50 million ($53 million) from Spain, according to an announcement made last week by Jose Luis Escriva, the country’s minister of migration, to help local authorities deal with the “extraordinary migration flow.”
The president of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadera, has accused the West of starting the migration crisis by exploitation of Africa’s natural resources and causing economic hardship through slavery and colonialism, despite EU nations like Italy and Germany taking steps to strengthen border security.
Touadera stated last month at the UN General Assembly that young Africans are compelled to move to Europe in quest of better chances after Western imperialism made their countries impoverished.
