A visit to Senegal

I was recently in Senegal as part of a European Parliament mission on immigration. The delegation was composed of six MEPs from Spain, France, Greece and Malta.

Senegal is a poor country, not one you would want to visit on holiday. With a population of around 12 million it lies on the west coast of Africa, to the south of Mauritania and to the north of Guinea Bissau and Guinea. To the east lies Mali. A parcel of territory enveloped by Senegal was carved out in colonial times to form The Gambia.

Senegal is both a country of origin as well as a country of transit for immigrants leaving the west coast of Africa by boat to attempt the dangerous crossing to the Canary Islands in Spain.

Yet, since last year, Senegal agreed to cooperate with Spain to put a stop to the deadly crossings in which hundreds of people drown every year. Frontex has supported this cooperation with a mission off the western coast of Africa, known as Hera.

In 2006, more than 30,000 boat people reached the Canary islands. As a result of co-operation with Senegal and Mauritania, this number went down to around 15,000 last year and again to some 9,000 this year. This amounts to a reduction of some 70 per cent in the number of arrivals.

Ironically, the success of the Frontex mission in this zone may well have added pressure on other migratory routes, most notably the one the centre of the Mediterranean, which affects us.

During our visit to Senegal we discussed cooperation on immigration with the Senegalese Prime Minister Cheikh Hajibon Soumare and with a number of his ministers, including the foreign affairs minister Cheikh Tidane Gadio and the minister for Senegalese abroad, Lo Dieng.

In general, African leaders criticise Europe for closing its doors to immigration, or what they refer to as a "fortress Europe". This criticism was reiterated to us by the Senegalese Prime Minister. On our part, we stressed our concerns but at the same time extended Europe's preparedness to cooperate. In a strongly worded intervention, the foreign minister condemned Europe for its "selective" approach to immigration and described the departure of Senegalese on a boat to Europe as a "humiliation for us to see our youth embark on a veritable suicidal mission to go to Europe".

We also visited the port in Dakar and the Frontex coordination centre where we boarded one of the Spanish patrol boats which have been allowed to patrol Senegal's coastal waters in order to intercept departing boats as early as possible.

The commander of the boat explained to me that intercepting a boatful of immigrants who had just embarked on their journey is a very dangerous affair. At that point, immigrants are still full of energy and full of hope to achieve their dream of reaching Europe. They therefore often resort to violence to repel the approaching surveillance, most notably through the use of machetes. Once intercepted, immigrants are normally boarded on the patrol boat and returned immediately to their point of departure and handed over to the authorities.

Under the terms of the cooperation, immigrants who manage to reach the Canary Islands are also repatriated.

Visiting repatriated migrants in the small coastal village of Thiaroye-sur-mer, we learnt how the men in the village have no option but to work as fishermen. Some get the boat to go fishing, but others venture on the nine-day crossing to Spain. One mother whose son died in the crossing set up an association of women against illegal immigration in a bid to create alternatives for locals. Their efforts are laudable, but the situation remains desperate.

A quick stroll in the neighbourhood revealed a bad state of affairs. No schools for children, no work, no roads, appalling housing conditions and palpable poverty throughout.

Even repatriated immigrants struggle to find alternatives and I did not get the impression that they were glad to be back home. On the contrary, immigration remains a family investment of sorts, hard as it might be. Families save to pay for one of its children to make the crossing, in the hope that a better life in Europe could reap rewards in the form of money transferred back home. Indeed, money transferred by immigrants back to their country of origin remains the most important foreign investment in Third World countries.

This was my first direct experience of the root causes of immigration. I could go on. But one thing is certain. The cooperation that Senegal has extended to Europe is laudable. And it can and should be replicated in our region too.

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Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.