By Tito Drago
MADRID, Aug 11 1998 (IPS)

The flow of would-be immigrants has not let up even though 1,000 undocumented Africans – five a day – have drowned in the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco so far this year, according to Spain’s leading immigrant advocacy group.

In the latest incident involving immigrants there were no deaths – but there could have been. The Madrid branch of ATIME, the Association of Immigrant Moroccan Workers in Spain, reported Tuesday that 32 North Africans, mainly Moroccans, were sent home “without any incident worthy of mention” after making it into the Spanish enclave of Melilla – whose sovereignty is disputed by Morocco – Sunday night.

The roughly 40 people who made it across the electric fence separating Melilla from Morocco were chased through the streets of that city by Spanish police, who fired shots in the air and used anti-riot equipment. Most of them were caught on the beach as they tried to escape.

Although watchtowers manned by soldiers and police are set at 25-metre intervals along the fence, a growing number of people are making it across into Melilla. The flow of undocumented immigrants from Africa into Spain through other routes, on precarious watercraft or hidden in passenger or cargo ships and transport trucks, is also on the rise.

The Moroccans, Algerians, Tunisians and nationals from sub- Saharan African countries are seeking better living conditions and jobs which they are unable to find in their home countries, steeped in social, political and economic crises.

The European Union has set restrictions on the entry of immigrants from non-EU countries. Spain has set an annual quota of 25,000 work and residency permits, which are not always issued due to administrative omission and delays that drag out the procedure up to eight months.

ATIME calculates that so far this year 1,000 people have died in their attempts to enter Europe through the Strait of Gibraltar, which joins the Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea.

The Spanish government, which registers only the deaths that take place in national waters, has counted 200. But ATIME estimates that another 800 have drowned in Moroccan waters. The total leaves an average of five a day, mainly 16 to 30-year-olds.

The immigrant advocacy group calculates that 17,000 survivors have been captured and deported to Morocco by the Spanish police this year, and that 20,000 found refuge and work in Spain or other European nations.

Reporting on the deportation of the 32 undocumented immigrants caught in Melilla, Spanish authorities highlighted the collaboration of Moroccan authorities.

ATIME, on the other hand, lamented that such “collaboration” had reached the extreme of the Spanish coast guard refusing to rescue victims of shipwrecks in Moroccan waters. The group mentioned a Jul. 6 incident in which a rickety boat carrying 38 people sank while the Spanish coast guard refused to provide assistance, arguing that it was an “internal Moroccan affair.”

Although the two governments kept the incident secret for two weeks, it was eventually denounced by other immigrants.

“Morocco’s refusal to rescue the victims hurts but does not surprise us. But Spain’s silence and refusal to provide assistance is disturbing,” said Beyuki Abdel Hamid, then-president of ATIME.

Ramon Jauregui of the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) said Spain’s Interior Ministry had violated the Penal Code, which makes the provision of assistance to anyone in danger obligatory.

In the meantime, the flow continues, by sea through the Strait of Gibraltar or by land in Melilla and Ceuta, another Spanish enclave in Morocco. Neither the electric fences set up in those two cities at a cost of 30 million dollars nor the stepped-up deployment of security forces have been able to stem the wave of individuals anxious to work and send money to families left back home.

Human rights activists say that until the legislation of European countries is modified or African nations overcome their underdevelopment, the pressure will remain – and with it what the Pro Human Rights Association of Andalucia terms “the genocide of the poor.”

Excerpt: