Spanish Prime Minister Visits West Africa to Tackle Migration Surge

Facts

• Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez began on Tuesday a three-day tour with stops in Gambia, Mauritania, and Senegal — his second visit this year to West Africa — aimed to curb a surge in migration to the Canary Islands.^[1][2][3]
• It remains unclear what Sánchez will offer to encourage authorities to prevent migrants from attempting to reach the archipelago, with Madrid rumored to extend to Gambia and Mauritania seasonal working visas — available for citizens of Senegal since March last year.^[4][5][6]
• This comes as the prime minister met with the Canary Islands' regional president on Friday and committed to an extra financial help of €50M ($55M) for the archipelago to deal with the flow of illegal migrants from West Africa.^[7]
• Considered one of the deadliest migration routes in the world as 21K people are estimated to have died there over the past 30 years, the route has reportedly seen a triple-digit percent increase last year. Arrivals in 2024 are expected to reach 50K.^{[8][9][10][3]}
• Talks have also been underway with Mali — the country of origin of most migrants taking the Western African route in 2024 — over bilateral military aid to resist the growing Russian presence in the Sahel.^[1][11]
• Meanwhile, up to 1.5K people attempted to swim from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Sunday and early on Monday amid thick fog. It's unknown how many managed to cross the border.^[12]

Sources: ^[1]Reuters, ^[2]RFI, ^[3]The Times, ^[4]TRT Afrika, ^[5]EUobserver, ^[6]InfoMigrants (a), ^[7]Africanews, ^[8]Associated Press, ^[9]BBC News, ^[10]La Vanguardia, ^[11]Frontex and ^[12]InfoMigrants (b).

Narratives

• Right narrative, as provided by The Gateway Pundit. It doesn't matter whether migrants come from Morocco, Senegal, or elsewhere in Africa, they will eventually enter Spain because the country's authorities are a complete disaster when it comes to securing the border. Given that uncontrolled migration through illegal routes means that criminals are crossing the border too, Spain must address this issue with urgency.
• Left narrative, as provided by www.euractiv.com. While there's indeed a migration crisis in Spain, the nation can't just turn a blind eye to vulnerable people risking their lives in dangerous routes to run away from desperate situations such as wars and hunger. Seasonal working visas and reforming the Immigration Law to impose a solidarity system in the 'autonomous communities' can solve the issue.

Predictions