In Senegal, Fass Boye, clandestine embarkation port for the Canary Islands

Sheltered under a makeshift hut on the white sand beach, Babacar Dièye watches a few fishermen take out two meager crates of fish from their colorful canoe. Gestures repeated many times with his 37-year-old brother who disappeared in the boat rescued on August 15 off Cape Verde, which aimed to reach the Spanish Canary Islands illegally. “I’m still in shock… We don’t have a body, nor anyone to explain to us the reasons for his death, it’s too hard”laments the fisherman, who took care of the widow and the four children of the disappeared.

According to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the boat had left the town of Fass Boye, 150 km north of Dakar, on July 10, with officially 101 passengers on board – around 150 according to the inhabitants of the village. Of the 38 survivors, all from Fass Boye, 37 were repatriated Tuesday, August 22 to Senegal by a military plane. Seven bodies were found but they were buried in Cape Verde because they could not be transported.

Galam Boye, a resident of the village, was part of the delegation that went to recognize the bodies and look for the survivors. “The young people were all very scared, shouting and didn’t want to talk to anyone. They were psychologically traumatized by the trip. I cried, they were very thin and losing their memory”testifies in Spanish this father who lived several years in Spain, after having succeeded in 2006 in reaching the Canary Islands by sea.

But this time, the trip did not go as planned. Gazing into space, Galam Boye repeats the stories told by the young people he has met. “After ten days at sea, the fuel was finished, they went adrift. Five days later, they ran out of food and water supplies. They threw the bodies of those who had died into the sea every day., he says without breathing. The survivors were finally rescued after thirty-six days at sea. “Two of them had wounds around their necks, I was told that they were going crazy and wanted to jump out of the canoe… So they tied them with a rope”continues Galam Boye.

Physical and psychological injuries

But in the village, it is impossible to meet the survivors. All were taken to hospitals to treat their physical and psychological injuries. Lying on a mat on the beach, Ahmed Diop Mbaye finds it hard to imagine the horror that his son, Ali Mbaye, a 30-year-old fisherman, has gone through, who is still hospitalized in a private clinic in Mboro, less than 30 km away. of the. “He is sick because the food was missing on the boat. He has not eaten for several days and he has been drinking sea water, his feet and eyes are swollen”testifies the father of the family, who thanks God for having returned his son to him.

Abdou Karim Sarr, in his fifties, was not so lucky: five members of his family disappeared, including his son. In the large family compound, the women seated in the shade on mats, shell out their kurus, the Muslim rosary, and refuse to speak for fear of crying. Even if he was not aware of their departure, Mr. Sarr understands the despair of the youngest. “They wanted to go to Europe to hope for a better life because here we don’t have the means to feed ourselves. The fish is missing: a few years ago, we could bring back two or three tons per outing, but now we are struggling to have 500 kg”he testifies while pleading for “a decrease in the number of fishing licenses granted to foreign vessels. “.

In 2006, Galam Boye left the village for the same reasons. “We didn’t make a good living from fishing. Today, nothing has changed. Foreign boats always come to fish in our sea and deplete our resources”, he warns, assuring that in six months the fishermen of his family cannot earn one million CFA francs (about 1,500 euros). But the risk is too high to travel by sea, warns Galam Boye. He was arrested in 2006 when he arrived in the Canary Islands and was imprisoned for three years, accused of being the captain of the boat, before being expelled a few years later. “I had a job in prison, I earned 500 euros a month and I could help my family. I would rather go back to prison in Spain than live here”testifies the fisherman.

The first clandestine canoes started leaving in 2006 then stopped around 2014 before resuming today. More than 800 nautical miles (1,500 km) separate Fass Boye from the Canary Islands, which makes this migratory route particularly long and dangerous. In this fishing village, the scarcity of fish resources is increasing with global warming and the installation of fishmeal factories in the region.

“Population boom”

But this resurgence of departures from Fass Boye, which has become a hub for illegal emigration, cannot be explained by this reason alone, when the second economic activity is market gardening. “The selling prices are not good, because there are too many growers and we all sell our production at the same time because we have no means of storage”notes Ibrahima Diop, 42, who lost several friends at sea. “I know that the state cannot give us work, but it can help us invest, like buying a fridge, because we don’t have the means”he suggests.

In this isolated village, accessible by a single damaged road, the other major challenge is access to land for the younger generations when no land is available, either for living or for farming. “We are facing a demographic boom: young people are getting married early and having children quickly, but they cannot plan for the next ten years”, explains Moustapha Gueye, a member of civil society. They therefore dream of Europe while those who have returned from Spain have managed to build their house.

“Those who left by canoe are developing the village. I too want to succeed in life, to have a job, wives and children.warns a young 17-year-old trader, who prefers to keep his name quiet, but says he is ready to risk the trip to Spain as soon as he has collected the necessary sum.

If the initial motivations are above all economic, some also point to political reasons. Six months before the presidential election scheduled for February 2024, Alexandre Gubert Lette, executive director of the Teranga Lab association, points to the political instability which encourages departures. “The advent of opponent Ousmane Sonko, who is now behind bars, has a clear impact on young populations, while demonstrations are suppressed and repressed. This accentuates the feeling of being in a country where justice is not impartial and contributes to fueling the despair of young people who want to leave.he observes.

National strategy

The upsurge in departures to the Canary Islands is affecting the entire north of the West African coast. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 126 people died or disappeared between the mainland and the Spanish islands in the first half of 2023. But, according to the Caminando Fronteras association, the toll is much heavier. The NGO which defends the rights of migrants has so far identified 778 victims.

In Dakhla, a city in Western Sahara, thousands of Senegalese nationals, including some from Fass Boye, were intercepted by the Moroccan authorities and then repatriated. To cope, the Senegalese government presented a national strategy to combat irregular migration at the end of July, which aims to “drastically reduce the phenomenon by 2033”, according to Interior Minister Antoine Félix Diome.

Pending its implementation, it is the local authorities who are trying to dissuade young people from leaving. Friday, a day of great prayer, the imam’s sermon advising them to stay and work in the village resounds in the streets of Fass Boye. Surrounded by a crowd come to pray for the dead of the last tragedy, the religious has little chance of being heard, therefore he asks God ” to welcome the victims to paradise”.