Illegal African immigrants now target Majorca

By Hubert Kahl May 1, 2007, 18:12 GMT

Madrid- Illegal African immigrants appear to have discovered the Spanish resort island of Majorca as a new gateway to Europe, in addition to the Canary Islands which have seen thousands arrive.

In less than a week, two boats carrying north African refugees have reached the Mediterranean island.

The local El Mundo/El Dia de Baleares daily sounded the alarm Tuesday saying: 'The Balearic Islands are becoming a stopover on the illegal immigration route.'

The head of the Balearic island government, Jauma Matas, has expressed concern. And the central government representative in the Balearics, Ramon Socias, declined to rule out more frequent arrivals of boats bearing African migrants.

The question now being asked is whether Majorca's beaches await the same fate as Tenerife, Gran Canaria or others of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic.

Sightings of boats off the Canary Islands' coasts with dozens of African refugees aboard are now an everyday occurrence.

The influx has dropped noticeably in the past months after Spain stepped up its coastal supervision and quickly deported immigrants back to their countries of origin. But the influx has not ground to a halt as 31,000 'illegals' arrived last year in the Canary Islands.

The phenomenon of illegal migration per boat was until recently almost unknown in Majorca and the other Balearic Islands.

The first ship with refugees arrived in Menorca in autumn 2006. Since then, three more boats have reached the bigger, neighbouring island of Majorca, which is only 300 kilometres from North Africa.

By contrast, refugees who set sail from West Africa often travel more than 1,000 kilometres across the Atlantic waters to the Canary Islands.

Despite the shorter distance, Majorca is less likely to be hit by an influx similar to that in the Canary Islands, because Spain has repatriation agreements with Morocco and Algeria.

West Africans who arrive in the Canary Islands can hope for exceptional leave to remain in Spain as it is often almost impossible to deport them.

Apart from that, the crossings from North Africa to Majorca are often organised by individuals as opposed to traffickers.

The 30 Algerians arrested Monday in Majorca did not have contact persons on the islands after arriving in a fishing boat, and had to find their own way to Palma de Majorca per taxi. From there, they had intended to reach the mainland as stowaways on a ferry.

However, the supervision of the Majorca's coastline does not seem to be ideal. Police only became aware of the illegal immigrants after a tip-off from locals. Several residents had noticed that those arriving were drenched and were wearing clothes with traces of salt.