Spain Will Urge Africa to Stem Immigrant Tide

Spanish authorities yesterday pledged to use satellite monitoring and a diplomatic offensive to prevent fresh waves of fishing boats full of illegal immigrants setting out from west Africa for the Canary Islands. The move came after a weekend in which a record-breaking 974 illegal African immigrants reached the islands in boats that had set out from Mauritania and Senegal.

Spain's Socialist government held an emergency meeting yesterday and concluded that much of the work of stopping illegal immigration would have to be done in Africa. "The terrible truth is that there are millions of people who leave their countries looking for a better life," deputy prime minister Maria Teresa Fernandez said.

She announced a diplomatic offensive to persuade African countries to help control the flow of illegal immigrants along the route, which starts in the Atlantic ports of Mauritania and Senegal, and can take more than a week. About 1,000 people are believed to have drowned along the route over the past six months.

Spain will send 10 new diplomats to west and central Africa, and open an embassy in Mali - where many of the immigrants start their odyssey. Spain was already due to begin joint maritime patrols with Mauritania this week.

About 150 immigrants a day have been reaching the Canary Islands over the past 10 days, mainly at the holiday island of Tenerife. The total this year is 20% more than for the whole of 2005. Authorities have reopened an empty army barracks in Tenerife to house the new immigrants.

Last year Spain reinforced the fences and barriers around its two north African enclaves, at Ceuta and Melilla, after they were successfully stormed by crowds of immigrants.