Along with some 50 others they hoped to evade police patrol boats and survive the voyage of 1,500km to the Spanish Canary Islands—and, once there, to go on to Europe. There is no alternative.”This year at least 529 migrants are known to have died trying to reach the Canary Islands from Africa. Despite such danger, more than 18,000 migrants have arrived in the Canary Islands this year, ten times more than in the comparable period last year. In the Canary Islands thousands of migrants have been sleeping on the wharf in the town of Arguineguín. This month one once again left the Canary Islands for Mauritania.

Source: The North Africa Journal November 26, 2020 15:56 UTC