Boats come from Sahara sand to transport migrants to Spain

DAKHLA, Western Sahara (AP) – Under a star-studded sky in the Sahara, smugglers are smuggling a boat buried in the sand, a made-up vessel to transport migrants from the North African coast to Spain’s Canary Islands.

With experienced skill, the men hoist the blue-boom boat on top of a four-wheel-drive vehicle that will take it from this inland hideout to the Western Sahara coast. From there, the boat is intended to take 20 to 30 migrants to the Atlantic Ocean and across what the European Union’s border agency calls ‘the most dangerous migration route in the world’.

The handover of the boat is an important but little-seen piece of the migrating smuggling chain in the controversial Western Sahara – a business that thrived last year because the coronavirus pandemic plunged many Africans into poverty and suffocated them with other routes , migration to the Canary Islands jumped eightfold to the highest rates ever recorded.

Encouraged by the help of Spain and the EU, the Moroccan authorities controlling Western Sahara – where some residents have long sought independence – are increasingly striking and a recent boat transfer witnessed by The Associated Press has been thwarted.

But many others succeed as smugglers evade police helicopter searchlights in the desert and reach fishing villages on the coast around Dakhla. The peninsula town boasts a thriving fishing port, and kite surfing enthusiasts flock to its waters. But over the past few months, the beaches have become an excellent place for smuggling networks watching the Canary Islands, 500 kilometers north.

Although the irregular crossings to Europe generally declined in 2020, the Canary Island route experienced a significant increase, with around 22,600 migrants arriving, which according to Spain and the EU was the Spanish government’s largest entry point. At least 600 people died or disappeared trying to undertake the journey.

The revival of the trail was driven in part by COVID-19.

The pandemic wiped out livelihoods in Morocco by cutting off tourism revenues and regularly shutting down local businesses. In the past, most arrivals in the Canary Islands were from sub-Saharan Africa, but now half are Moroccans. According to the International Organization for Migration, boats also depart regularly from the West African coast of Guinea, Gambia and Mauritania.

A Dakhla resident who arranges trips for migrants says economic problems have driven him to work for a smuggling network.

“We had to make money and feed our families,” the 32-year-old told the AP on condition of anonymity because what he was doing was illegal.

He says he puts together one trip a week, while competitors send out up to 10 boats a night. He estimates that as many as half of the migration efforts fail, either due to problems before departure or at sea.

One recent failure was visible on the shores of the Dakhla Peninsula: the fresh charred remains of a tugboat that caught fire. The fate of those on board is unclear.

Last year, IOM’s Missing Migrants Project tentatively recorded 601 deaths or disappearances on the Canary Route, including at least 109 that left Dakhla or were found near Dakhla. They are investigating eight more missing boats with 355 people on board.

The Dakhla resident said migrants paid $ 2,000 for the trip – a large amount in Morocco, where the typical worker earns a few hundred dollars a month – but would not say how much he earns himself.

“I do not know where they get the money from, but they want to leave at any cost,” he said.

One recent night, a group of smugglers left Dakhla and entered the interior, followed by a vehicle carrying a dozen clinkers. They drive past police checkpoints and then turn off the highway into the endless expanse of desert. The driver had a GPS coordinate on a phone and crossed the sand with the experience of someone who apparently had followed the route many times.

At the meeting point, the men found a white tent and a young boat builder – and dug a large boat.

Just as they were retreating, the smugglers received a message about the police’s movement and were told to leave the boat. Within minutes, the vessel was deep under the sand again – and the tent and equipment were gone.

As the men drove back to town, police stopped their car and searched for signs of smuggling, but found nothing.

The carpenter said he built the boat in the desert to attract attention – a common practice, although smugglers sometimes also simply buy boats from fishermen. The carpenter, who said he earned about 20,000 dirhams ($ 2,000) per vessel, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the connection to smuggling networks.

When such boats drive to Dakhla, they find many people.

It can take up to four days to get to the Canary Islands, and people arrive in terrible shape. According to the migration agencies, they generally do not take food with them, and if there is little, there is little water.

But preventing people from taking the risk is a major challenge in a global economic crisis. As crossings escalated to the highest level last year since the EU border agency began collecting data in 2009, Spain sent top government officials to Senegal and Morocco in November to discuss how to stop the crossings.

The EU provides development assistance to African countries to help them manage migration and has also set up a 5 billion euro ($ 6 billion) trust fund to address the problem. Moroccan police, for their part, said they had prevented nearly 10,000 migrants from going to Europe last year, and the government had agreed to take back deported Moroccans.

Yet hundreds of people are trying the journey. Already six deaths were recorded on the Canary Trail in 2021, most recently a boy who drowned.

“This is absolutely one of the deadliest routes to the European Union,” Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told EU lawmakers on Tuesday. “And we do not know how many lives were lost.”

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Associated Press journalists Lorne Cook in Brussels, Renata Brito in Barcelona and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.