Boats emerge from the Sahara to transport migrants to Spain

DAKHLA, Western Sahara (AP) – Under a starry sky in the Sahara, smugglers and manual workers unearth a boat buried in the sand, a custom-made ship to transport migrants from the North African coast to Spain’s Canary Islands.

With experienced skill, the men hoist the blue-bottomed wooden boat on top of a four-wheel drive vehicle that will take them from this refuge to the coast of Western Sahara. From there, the boat is expected to take 20 to 30 migrants to the Atlantic Ocean and through what the European Union border agency calls “the most dangerous migratory route in the world”.

The delivery of the boat is a crucial but little seen part of the migrant smuggling chain in disputed Western Sahara – a business that prospered last year, when the coronavirus pandemic left many Africans in poverty and, with other routes blocked, the migration to the Canary Islands jumped eight times to the highest rates ever recorded.

Encouraged by help from Spain and the EU, the Moroccan authorities who control Western Sahara – where some residents have long sought independence – are increasingly repressing and preventing a recent boat transfer witnessed by the Associated Press.

But many others succeed, as smugglers evade the spotlight of police helicopters in the desert and reach the fishing towns on the coast around Dakhla. The peninsular city has a thriving fishing port, and kite surfing enthusiasts flock to its waters. But in recent months, its beaches have become a hot spot for smuggling nets in the Canaries, 500 kilometers (300 miles) to the north.

Although irregular crossings to Europe generally fell in 2020, the Canary Islands route had a significant increase, with around 22,600 migrants arriving, making Spain the main entry point for migrants who tried to reach the European coast in the year past, according to EU and Spanish government data. At least 600 people died or disappeared trying to make the trip.

The resurgence of the route was driven in part by COVID-19.

The pandemic wiped out livelihoods in Morocco, cutting tourism revenue and periodically closing local businesses. Although in the past most arrivals to the Canaries were from Sub-Saharan Africa, now about half are Moroccans. The boats also routinely depart from the West African coasts of Guinea, Gambia and Mauritania, according to the International Organization for Migration.

A Dakhla resident who organizes travel for migrants said that economic difficulties had led him to work for a smuggling chain.

“We had to earn money and feed our families,” the 32-year-old man told the AP on condition of anonymity because what he does is illegal.

He says he rides one trip a week, while competitors send up to 10 boats a night. He estimates that up to half of migration attempts fail, either because of problems before departure or at sea.

A recent flaw was visible on the shores of the Dakhla peninsula: the freshly charred remains of a migrant boat that caught fire. The fate of the people on board is not clear.

The IOM Missing Migrants Project provisionally registered 601 deaths or disappearances on the Canary Islands route last year, including at least 109 who left Dakhla or were found near Dakhla. They are still investigating eight other missing boats with 355 people on board.

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

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

On a recent night, a group of smugglers left Dakhla and headed inland, followed by a vehicle carrying a dozen manual workers. They passed police checkpoints and turned off the road into the endless expanse of the desert. The driver had a GPS coordinate on a phone and crossed the sand with the experience of someone who seemed to have made the journey many times.

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

As they were preparing to return, the smugglers received a message about the police’s “movement” and were instructed to leave the boat. Within minutes, the ship was deep under the sand again – and the tent and equipment were gone.

As the men returned to the city, the police stopped the car and searched for signs of contraband – but found none.

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

When these boats arrive in Dakhla, they find many buyers.

It can take up to four days to reach the Canaries and people arrive in terrible condition. They generally do not take food on the trip and very little water, if any, according to migration agencies.

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

The EU provides development aid to African countries to help them manage migration and has also created a € 5 billion ($ 6 billion) trust fund to address the problem. For its part, Moroccan police said they prevented nearly 10,000 migrants from crossing to Europe last year, and the government agreed to take back the Moroccans who were deported.

Even so, hundreds of people try the journey. Six deaths have been reported in 2021 on the Canary Islands route, most recently a boy who drowned.

“It is absolutely one of the deadliest routes to the European Union,” Internal Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told EU lawmakers on Tuesday. “And we don’t really 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.