Immigrant smuggling. Spain detains 200

Moroccan measure to curb immigrant-smuggling rings appear to have had some effect. However instead of curtailing the illegal movement of people, they may have simply shifted the problem elsewhere.

In the biggest such swoop this year, Spanish police have detained about 200 African undocumented immigrants. The north and sub-Saharan Africans were captured off Almeria and Granada on the southern coast as well as the Canary Islands after arriving on five boats over the week-end. According to reports in the Spanish press they were in good health except for two, who were treated for hypothermia.

There has been some use of electronic detection devices but the latest group of immigrants are reported to have travelled from the southern part of Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara and from Mauritania to western Canary Islands - areas which are not yet covered by electronic surveillance systems.

Boats leaving from Mauritania look like fishing vessels, with the would-be immigrants pretending to be crew.

More than 10 000 African illegals were arrested on and off the Spanish coast and in the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla last year, with the situation peaking in the autumn when Spain and Morocco sent thousands of police and soldiers to prevent thousands of migrants from climbing over the border fences surrounding Melilla and Ceuta.

Morocco deported large numbers of sub-Saharans to the desert and hundreds of them are now waiting in Mauritania to cross over to the Canaries, according to the Spanish daily El Mundo.

The situation inside the Spanish enclaves is just as dire. When potential immigrants from Morocco, Algeria or other African states manage to enter Ceuta or Melilla without being checked, they discover that the next step, namely crossing to Spain, is far more difficult. The Spanish authorities make sure that the ('the paperless') cannot head in that direction, even though they are officially on Spanish soil. Even if they succeed in crossing, on the other side of the straits - whether in Algeciras, Almeria or Malaga - further checks and strict control by border guards and police are waiting for them. Meanwhile, more and more migrants in Ceuta and Melilla, hoping for legal status and the opportunity to travel on, have to spend a long time in overflowing camps. The situation in the camps, which have expanded dramatically in recent years, is marked by inadequate sanitary facilities, lack of drinking water and generally poor provisions. The food, for example, is insufficient and not at all adapted to the needs of different religious groups.

The Calamocarro camp in Ceuta, originally intended for 400 people, is now notorious all over Spain for its unendurable living conditions. The fact that up eo 2,000 men, women and children from Algeria and other African states have been locked in there for periods of up to six months or more has brought protests again and again from human rights organizations and NGO's. The La Granja camp near Melilla has an equally disastrous reputation. When the move to a new camp was delayed in September 1999, the inhabitants lost all patience and riots broke out, leaving the camp practically demolished. The installation of refugee camps in the Spanish enclaves is just one more step in the shift forward of Fortress Europe onto the African continent.

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