By Daniel Flynn
Dakar - Spain and Senegal agreed on Monday to start joint navy patrols this week to try to stem a flood of illegal migration, which has seen more than 1 000 Africans arrive in the Canary Islands in three days.
After an emergency meeting with his Senegalese counterpart in Dakar, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said two Spanish Civil Guard vessels would begin patrols off Senegal by the end of this week.
"Illegal immigration is not just Spain's problem; neither is it just Senegal's nor the European Union's: it is a shared problem, it is everyone's problem," Rubalcaba told reporters after the meeting, before leaving for neighbouring Mauritania.
More than 1 600 illegal migrants have flooded into Spain's Canary Islands since Friday, according to the regional government, swamping reception centres and leaving Madrid struggling to organise their repatriation to West Africa.
Senegal has become one of the main embarkation points for young Africans risking their lives in overcrowded fishing boats, after Mauritania and Morocco to the north have taken steps to tighten coastal security.
The Mauritanian navy on Sunday towed to shore a boat carrying 173 would-be migrants, mostly from Senegal, which was spotted by a Spanish fishing vessel. During his visit to Nouakchott, Rubalcaba thanked Mauritanian authorities for their efficiency in curbing illegal immigration from their shores.
Despite heightened surveillance, more than 18 000 West African migrants have reached the beaches of the Canary Islands since the start of the year, almost four times the figure for the whole of 2005.
Many run out of food, fuel and water and die on the journey of more than 1 000km up the West African coast.
But the prospect of earning a decent wage tempts thousands of men from Senegal, where unemployment tops 40 percent.
The European Union has pledged to help Spain and it launched a sea patrol to the Canaries on Aug. 11. Two boats, two aircraft and a handful of experts will take part in the nine-week mission, a spokeswoman for the EU's border agency Frontex said.
Senegalese Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom said: "Senegal has more than 730km of coastline which is not easy to permanently control so we have greatly appreciated this help from Spain."
Madrid was co-operating with aid for sectors such as tourism, transport and infrastructure to generate employment, he said.
"Spain and Senegal both agree that illegal immigration is a human tragedy and therefore it must be treated as a humanitarian issue: that means treating the victims of this scourge with respect, consideration and dignity," Ngom said.
Madrid secretly resumed the repatriation of a trickle of migrants to Senegal in June, just weeks after Dakar halted a similar operation and accused Spain of mistreating deportees.