Spain looks to Africa, NATO lobby, Ukraine-led ally for immigrants

Madrid / Las Palmas — Spain to the EU and NATO, a continent exacerbated by the invasion of Ukraine, two government officials and two A human diplomatic source told Reuters.

Spain is likely to use the NATO summit in Madrid this week to assert its claim and seek greater information sharing by the alliance, including immigration-related issues. The official said.

Even before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez worked with African partners to contain migration, leading to root causes such as instability and climate change. It has revived a strategy that was thwarted by the previous administration to work on it. Officials near him said.

They added that the drive is now more urgent.

"We are looking for good relationships with all our neighbors around us, and even the most powerful nations on the planet jointly manage phenomena that no one can deal with alone. "Masu," Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Reuters. He didn't reveal the details.

Spain, its southern neighbors, and EU officials have said that the hunger crisis exacerbated by the turmoil in Ukraine's grain exports has chaotic migration from the Sahel and sub-Saharan regions of Africa. And are increasingly wary that their numbers are already increasing. This year, sources said.

On Friday, at least 23 migrants died after clashing with Moroccan security forces as about 2,000 people attempted to invade Melilla's enlave in North Africa, Spain. Morocco has been stepping up its containment measures in recent weeks following Spain's new diplomatic approach.

Another dangerous but popular gateway to Europe, the maritime movement to the Canary Islands, was between January and May this year compared to last year. With a 51% surge, Spanish data showed the busiest this year's period is still coming.

Graphics:https://tmsnrt.rs/3bg1xAm

Spain is used as a gateway to Europe by immigrants from other continents, including Africa and Latin America. Although it is primarily a transit country, the surge in previous arrivals has put strong pressure on its border resources.

Alvarez said the new strategy Sanchez has been visiting nine African countries since last year was designed to protect immigrants from danger.

"We cannot allow the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean to become a huge watery tomb, where thousands of humans die each year when they want a better life. "Alvarez said.

However, Spain's quest to outsource enforcement by human rights groups and immigrant advocates is in the hands of national security forces with a history of abuse and aggressive police. Say to put vulnerable people.

Death in Morocco is "a tragic symbol of European policy to externalize the EU border," said a group including the Moroccan Human Rights Association and the Spanish immigrant charity Walking Borders on Saturday. Said in a joint statement.

The Sanchez office did not immediately respond to the request for comment.

Sharing intelligence

As a sign of growing anxiety, Madrid is at the NATO summit, where irregular migration is a political pressure tactic by hostile actors. It also encourages NATO to devote resources to securing the Southern Frank of the Alliance.

Madrid will ask NATO to "share information on the alliance," including immigration-related issues, said senior Spanish diplomats and EU diplomats. This allows you to formalize and extend your existing intelligence collaboration. At the

summit, NATO agrees to strengthen cooperation with southern countries and agree on a Mauritanian package to support "war on terrorism, border control, strengthening defense and security". Secretary-General Jens Stortenberg told the newspaper El. Weekend pay.

As NATO's presence grows, Mauritania, which works closely with Spain, could help coordinate with other countries in the Sahel region, a senior at the Elcano Institute, a Madrid think tank. Defense analyst Felix Arteaga said.

Foreign Minister Alvarez refused to give details on how NATO could expand its activities in Africa.

NATO sources and scholars suggest that Spain's proposal faces resistance in the face of conflicting needs from countries such as Russia's vulnerable neighbors of the Baltic States.

Spain states that the growing influence of Russia in unstable countries, including the Central African Republic and the Sahel state of Mali, risks fueling anxiety in southern Europe.

Citing the existence of Russian military contractors in Mali, the blockade of grain exports from Ukraine, and Moscow's ally Belarus' policy of permitting immigrants to the EU last year, Madrid said Vladimir Putin. Of his war effort, President Putin said migration and hunger could be used as part.

"Putin wants to use the food crisis to coordinate the repetition of the scale immigration crisis seen in 2015-16 to destabilize the EU." A European Union official told Reuters.

Moscow denies responsibility for the food crisis and denounces Western sanctions that limit grain exports due to rising global prices.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to the request for comment.

Funding the Sahel

In recent weeks, Sanchez has been with heads of state and officials in Nigeria, Morocco and Mauritania to discuss economic cooperation, trafficking and capacity building. We held a bilateral meeting in a hurry. Control the border and fight the war on terror.

In June, the government sent Congress a new development bill to fund the Sahel. The law represents a significant expansion of existing funding for immigration control to eight African countries.

Italy is also seeking help, and the government has previously hosted a conference of Southern European countries to implement a post-Immigration policy to evenly distribute arrivals throughout Europe. I promoted it.

People are already in motion. In the first four months of this year, departures from Niger in the Sahel increased by 45% and departures from neighboring Mali doubled, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The rise has not yet been reflected by its arrival on the European coast.

A Reuters review of data from the European Border and Coast Guard Frontex found an increase in the number of immigrants arriving in and below the Sahel region of Africa, from Guinea, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana to the Canary Islands. Shown. In the first five months of 2022 compared to the same period last year.

The whole family travels from far south of Senegal and Guinea to the Atlantic islands with fragile rubber dinghys due to unstable climate change and, more recently, high food. I am coming to visit. The price was said by Jose Antonio Rodriguez Verona, an official of the Red Cross in the Canary Islands.

Morocco is the largest country of origin and transit point for immigrants to Spain, and a record number of Moroccans arrived in the Canary Islands in January and February this year.

However, after Spain changed its policy on Western Sahara in conflict to match Morocco's stance, Frontex figures show that these figures have been in the last two months to March and April. It decreased by 85%. Alvarez attributed this decline directly to policy changes.

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"I would like to thank you for your extraordinary cooperation with the Kingdom of Morocco," Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez said on Saturday after his death in Melilla. About trafficking gangs.

(Report by Beren Carreno, Joan Faus, Borja Suarez, Gabriella Bakjinska in Brussels, Emma Phage in Geneva, Ed McAllister in Dakar, Ahmed El Jectimi in Rabat, Eislin Rain Edited by Frank Jack Daniel)