Beginning on June 2, nine European countries, including Spain, will patrol the Atlantic coast of Africa to stop the illegal migration into the Spanish Canary Islands.
Naval forces from Spain, Germany, Austria, Finland, Italy, Britain, Greece and the Netherlands, will patrol along the Atlantic coast until. They will then become a strike force which will handle “recurring crisis situations,” Spain’s Defense Minister Antonio Camacho told reporters.
The operation will involve five patrol boats, five helicopters and an airplane, the Spanish daily Herald reported.
The phenomenon of Sub-Saharan Africans illegally infiltrating into the Spanish Canary Islands has become a major liability on Spanish authorities. During the first five months of 2006, some seven thousand Africans arrived in the Canaries. Last year the number totaled 4,750. It is reported that some 1,000 immigrants have drowned during their journey.