Tuesday, September 05, 2006
"Spain says Africa must do more to stop migrants"
The rate of arrivals from the Canaries hit a new level at the weekend, and the central government's office said 1,965 Africans had arrived there since Friday -- nearly half the total during the whole of 2005.
"We are prepared to act with all due firmness," [Spanish Deputy Prime Minister] Fernandez de la Vega said, adding that everyone arriving in Spain illegally will eventually be made to leave.
Spain is angry that African countries are not cooperating more with the repatriation of their citizens who risk their lives on a dangerous voyage hundreds of kilometres (miles) up West African coasts to the Canaries.
Fernandez de la Vega did not say how Spain could prompt more cooperation, although trade, aid and cooperation agreements could provide Madrid with many ways of putting pressure on such poor states, especially if it gets European Union backing.
