Monday 22 September 2008

Gambia Refuses to Accept Deportees

Everyday around the world thousands of so-called 'illegal' immigrants are forcibly repatriated. Many are carried on regular charter flights next to holiday makers [XL was one such company, the loss of which will not be mourned in some quarters], others are carried on special one off charters used for mass deportations. One such flight on Friday 18th from Spain to Banjul in Gambia carrying 103 migrants was forced to return to Spanish territory in the Canaries as “(t)he Gambian authorities were not ready to receive the migrants in that short time,” according to Kebba Touray, Gambia’s ambassador to Spain.

Gambia, a former British colony whose thin sliver of territory juts into French-speaking Senegal, is one of a string of West African states which have signed immigration accords with Spain allowing the repatriation of illegal migrants. The carrot used by Spain, which is in the front line of European Union efforts to stem a tide of African job-seekers trying to reach Europe to seek a better life, to secure these agreements [part of the Fortress Europe project] is a pledge of future development aid for the West African governments who sign up.

Madrid repatriated several thousand West African migrants last year, with the returning migrants escorted by police to try and prevent protests from the forcibly returned migrants. These agreements also allow for European Union planes and warships to regularly patrol in West African countries' territorial waters to intercept the migrants trying to reach European shores. Hundreds drown in these risky voyages in flimsy, open boats as they try to avoid these military patrols.

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