Three more boatloads reach Canaries

Three more boatloads of illegal African migrants landed on Spain's Canary Islands yesterday, taking the total in three days to more than 1,000, the islands' emergency services said.

Reception centres have been swamped and the government has to fly the migrants to mainland Spain while it tries to negotiate their repatriation.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said his interior minister would travel today to Senegal.

Many of the migrants now come via Senegal, as stricter border controls in Mauritania and Morocco have pushed the traffickers further south.

The deputy prime minister is likely to visit Finland in the next few days to appeal to the current EU presidency for help, Mr Zapatero said at a rally in the Canaries late on Saturday.

Six boats landed on Friday and another three on Saturday, meaning the islands have had to cope with 1,151 migrants since Friday morning.

More than 17,000 illegal migrants have arrived so far this year, fleeing poverty in their home countries.

"They change their routes depending on the controls they meet," Domingo Martin Garcia, head of the Red Cross rapid response team in Tenerife, said.

"Our people in Africa have figures estimating that about 100,000 people could be waiting in Senegal for an opportunity to set off in a boat," he said in an interview in ABC newspaper yesterday.

The Canary Islands, off the coast of Morocco, are one of Spain's most popular tourist destinations, particularly in the winter months.

Spain has made limited progress in agreeing repatriation deals with the West African countries involved. ABC said on Saturday that only eight per cent of illegal migrants had been sent back so far this year.