The Perilous Tide

Just last autumn, desperate African migrants scaled barbed wire fences on Morocco's northern coast—a mere 14 km from this Spanish fishing town—in a grim scramble to reach the West. When border officials fired rubber bullets on them, killing five, European politicians dispatched a massive patrol force to the Mediterranean. For a few months, the effort seemed a rare success: the flood of immigrants has all but ceased on Spain's southern coast. The fishermen and windsurfers in Tarifa, for example, say they can scarcely remember the last time an illegal boat made the quick dash from Morocco to these tourist-heavy beaches.

But now Africa's migrant voyages to Europe appear even grimmer. Thousands trying to flee poverty and political turmoil in Africa have set sail off Mauritania's coast in recent months, journeying 1,000 km across the choppy Atlantic to the Canary Islands. More than 7,500 have landed on Spain's autonomous archipelago since January, about five times the number for all of 2005. Worse, the new route has proved deadly: Aid workers estimate about 1,000 migrants have drowned during the past year, while attempting to navigate six-meter swells in modest vessels. "Many of these structures are like big rowing boats," says Austin Taylor of the Spanish Red Cross in Tenerife. "It was not a problem before because people went from Morocco. But this is a lot more dangerous."

Overwhelmed by the flood, Canary and Spanish officials negotiated emergency help this week from European politicians. E.U. justice and home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini promised to send surveillance planes and boats to monitor West Africa's long coastline, in a coordinated effort by eight European countries. Two rapid-response teams are planned for dispatch to the Canary Islands, while air and sea patrols could stretch as far south as Gambia and Senegal, in an attempt to interdict illegal boats well before they offload their cargo on European soil.

For all the effort, few expect the problem will be resolved quickly. Local fishermen in Mauritania have a strong incentive to keep the bodies flowing; some earn up to EUR30,000 transporting one boatful of migrants. A stint in a European prison might seem worth it at that price. Olva Martin, a Spanish Red Cross delegate in Mauritania, says: "We never know when we are going to get more people arriving."

Martin might expect many more to arrive, since Africans see dismal economic prospects at home. Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said this week that he believes one of the best immigration control measures is increased aid to Africa. Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told African foreign ministers that his country would offer training programs to those deported from Europe. The country also plans to send diplomats to West Africa to help control the exodus to Europe. And French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy—fresh from his new controversial bill to stop unskilled immigrants from settling in France—told his Moroccan counterpart in Marrakesh that he supported creating new development programs in Africa.

Until those grand plans become reality, Africa is likely to seem all too close to those on Spain's southern beaches—even during months when the route remains sealed off for most migrants.