In Rabat, Morocco, Lamine (all people mentioned by first name requested anonymity), a young Guinean, was arrested six times by the police, in 2023, before being unceremoniously sent back to the other end from the country. In Mauritania, Bella and Idiatou, also Guineans, were abandoned in the middle of the desert after being arrested and then incarcerated. Their crime? Having taken to the sea to try to reach Spain. In Tunisia, François, a Cameroonian, oriented himself as best he could after the security forces released him, in the middle of the mountains, near the border with Algeria. It was the third time he had been deported in the space of a few months.
These three stories of migrant people are similar. However, they take place in three different states in northern Africa. Three distinct countries which have in common being the final stages of the main migratory routes to Europe: that of the central Mediterranean, which connects the Tunisian coasts to the Italian island of Lampedusa; that of the Western Mediterranean, which leaves the Maghreb towards Spain or the so-called “Atlantic” route, which leaves the shores of Senegal and Western Sahara to reach the Canary Islands.
Significant resources mobilized by the EU
For this reason, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania also have in common that they are the subject of much attention from the European Union (EU) in the implementation of its policy to combat irregular immigration. While the migration issue tenses public opinion and divides member states against a backdrop of the rise of the extreme right in many countries, Europe is mobilizing significant resources to prevent Sub-Saharan candidates for exile from reaching the border. at sea. At the risk that the aid provided to Maghreb governments contributes to repeated violations of human rights.
Since 2015, the three states have received more than 400 million euros for the management of their borders, just through the Emergency Trust Fund (EFF), launched by the EU during the migration summit in Valletta, capital of Malta. A sum to which is added aid granted directly by certain Member States or under other programs.
In July 2023, the EU again signed an agreement with Tunisia, which includes aid of 105 million euros to combat irregular immigration. Shortly before, on June 19, the French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, traveling to Tunis, committed to paying more than 25 million euros to Tunis to strengthen migration control. More recently, on February 8, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced from Nouakchott the signing of financial support for 210 million euros for Mauritania, part of which would be allocated to the “migration management”.
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