I have said that this website will include a small amount of text and a lot of pictures but this
promise is not fulfilled here. I hope that the subject is so interesting so I can be forgiven.

                               A stream of refugees.
                                Chapter 1.

An illegal stream of refugees from Africa to the Canary Islands is a rising problem. Small boats arrives everyday overloaded with refugees.
One day a boat landed just a couple of hundred metres from where I live and then the thought came to investigate the problem a little deeper. However, as I read Swedish newspapers only and they do not write anything about this I was unaware of this huge problem.

The boat that arrived where I am staying is about 15 metres long and equipped with two engines. But only one functioned.It is believed that the boat had 49 passenger as the police could arrest 40 men standing around the boat. Nine persons were arrested a couple of hours later in the area above the harbour.This boad transported young healthy men but earlier they have found families with small children, even new born babies.

It is likely that this boat has been released from a larger ship during the night and did not spend that many hours at sea.
If you take a look at picture number three you can understand that it must have been very crowded. Imagine the boat loaded with 50 seasick persons not used to the sea. The sanitary conditions must have been stretched to the limit if they spent several days at sea.

A few figures which I have been able to collect thanks to Spanish speaking friends.
During 2005, 4715 illegal refugees arrived which you know about. Of course there must be a lot of them that nobody detected and is here illegally. Two thirds were identified and could be sent home to countries mostly south of Sahara like Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Gambia, Liberia and of course Senegal which is closest. (They are really guests from far away).

What happens to the emptyhanded people when they arrive back home is hard to know but it will sure be problems. If the information I have received is correct these are poor people who is in debt to human smugglers and owe them 10 000 – 15 000 Euro. What will happen to them when they come back to a country with no work and often broken down by civil war I don’t even want to think about.

 Now what happens to the about 1600 persons that is left here. First they have to sit in a refugee camp on the island they came to and then they are transported to other camps on the main land. To sit in a camp for illegal immigrants in Spain is probably a great difference from sitting in a refugee camp in Sweden.

And now about the trip it self? Earlier and in odd occasions the people that arrived were deeply exhausted and in need of medical care. But that’s changed and today they are healthy when the boat reaches the shore. This is according to the authorities due to organized human smugglers that takes them with larger ships during night close to the Canary Island and in the safety of night sends them away in smaller not seaworthy ships. Some of the smugglers has been caught and are serving a long time in jail.

The boats probably starts from West Sahara and Morocco.

Chapter 2, March 16, 2006.

When I started writing about the immigrants I complained that Swedish media do not mention the problem. This morning I finally heard some news on the Swedish radio. The stream of immigrants is increasing and so is the amount of human tragedies.
Helena Somervalli writes more in detail about the phenomenon (in Swedish) on her website www.chayofastudio.se

I shall try to describe the boats and their hazardous voyages.

Yesterday, March 15, two boats arrived in Los Cristianos and I took some photos while the authorities were cleaning them. I don’t think the boats transport only people, mosquitoes and other bugs may be there as well. I have not been allowed so close to the boats as to be able to take pictures of their insides, but, from what I have learnt, there is a hole big enough to fit an outboard engine, like having a corf in the bottom.

As there is now increased surveillance outside the coasts of Western Sahara and Morocco, the boats started departing from Mauritania, which makes the voyage last longer. I don’t have access to nautical maps for exact figures, but after studying the map in my calendar and consulting Pythagoras, I estimate the distance between Mauritania and the Canary Islands to be about 480 nautical miles (close to 900 km). If they travel at a maximum speed of 5 knots, the voyage would take four days. Four days and nights of horror at sea, probably, as most of the passengers have never seen the sea, cannot swim and suffer from seasickness.

                                                                  
                                                                 Chapter 3, March 17, 2006

Radio Sweden has finally woken up. Yesterday I listened to the news and heard quite a long feature of the immigration problem. The information was generally in line with my own articles, some figures differ, but the situation is chaotic and many rumors circulate. In the end all comes down to human tragedies.

I had hardly published my information yesterday before I had to go down to the harbor and take pictures of new “guests”.

I got quite I good picture of how the engine is placed inside the boat. You can see that the engine is hoisted up, a good thing for when the boat comes into shallow waters.

You can also see pictures of the little medical tent on the pier and the coastguard bringing the passengers ashore.  These persons were taken away in an ordinary bus, instead of the usual police van. I often wonder what these people are thinking, sitting in a crowded van with howling sirens.

More information (in Swedish) on www.chayofastudio.se

 

                                                                Chapter 4, April 3, 2006

The stream of immigrants to Tenerife has decreased lately, but far away at sea the human tragedies continue.

A boat with 57 passengers onboard was rammed the other day outside the coast of Mauritania. 32 drowned and 25 utterly exhausted persons were saved.

Outside El Hierro (the most western of the Canary Islands) 35 immigrants were saved and taken to Gran Canaria.

Closely watched, a ship with about 500 refugees, is sailing the sea between the Islands and Mauritania and is apparently not allowed into any port.

Pregnant girls under age are a new problem in Spanish territory in Northern Africa.

Swedish media remain silent.

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