MADRID/LAS PALMAS ¨C Spain is shifting its foreign policy towards Africa while lobbying the EU and NATO for support to address migration from the continent, aggravated by the Ukraine invasion, two senior government officials and two diplomatic sources have said.
Spain will use a NATO summit in Madrid this week to press its case, and is likely to ask for increased intelligence sharing by the alliance including on issues related to migration, the diplomats said.
Even before Russia¡¯s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez had revived a strategy mothballed by previous governments of working with African partners to contain migration and to tackle root causes such as instability and climate change, two officials close to him said.
That drive has now taken on more urgency, they added.
¡°We are looking for good relations with all the neighbors around us and jointly managing phenomena that no one, not even the most powerful state on the planet, can deal with on its own,¡± Spain¡¯s foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares told Reuters. He declined to give details.
Spain, its southern neighbors and EU officials are increasingly alarmed that a hunger crisis worsened by the disruption of Ukraine¡¯s grain exports will trigger chaotic migration from the Sahel and sub-Saharan regions of Africa, with numbers already on the rise this year, the sources said.
On Friday, at least 23 migrants died after clashes with Moroccan security forces when around 2,000 people tried to cross into Spain¡¯s North African enclave of Melilla. Morocco in recent weeks has toughened containment measures following Spain¡¯s new diplomatic approach.
Migration by sea to the Canary Islands, another risky but popular entrance point into Europe, jumped 51% between January and May this year compared to last year, Spanish data showed, with the busiest period of the year still to come.
Spain is used as a gateway to Europe by migrants from other continents, including Africa and Latin America. Although it is largely a transit country, previous jumps in arrivals have put its border resources under intense pressure.
Albares said the new strategy, which has seen Sanchez visit nine African countries since last year, was designed to keep migrants from danger.
¡°We cannot allow the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, to become enormous watery tombs where every year thousands of human beings die when all they aspire to is a better life,¡± Albares said.
Human rights groups and migration advocates, however, say Spain¡¯s quest to outsource enforcement puts vulnerable people in the hands of...
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