SPAIN/MOROCCO: More than 80 immigrants stranded on a rocky mediterranean islet as they try to reach Spain mainland.

Record ID: 348549

  • Title: SPAIN/MOROCCO: More than 80 immigrants stranded on a rocky mediterranean islet as they try to reach Spain mainland.
  • Date: 3rd September 2012
  • Summary: ISLA DE TIERRA, SPAIN (SEPTEMBER 3, 2012) (REUTERS) MEDITERRANEAN SEA AND ISLET SPANISH FLAG ON TOP OF ISLET, IMMIGRANTS MOVING ON TOP OF ROCKS ISLET IMMIGRANT WALKING SPANISH FLAG AND IMMIGRANTS PLAYA DE SFIHA, MOROCCO (SEPTEMBER 3, 2012) (REUTERS) VIEW OVER SPAIN'S ALHUCEMAS ISLET LIGHTHOUSE ON ALHUCEMAS BEACH WITH DECK CHAIRS AND BEACH UMBRELLAS KID PLAYING ON BEACH W
  • Embargoed: 18th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Morocco
  • Country: Morocco
  • Topics: Crime,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9TOBQ8OJT3W3JNCHLX59CIHJ3
  • Story Text: Dozens of immigrants were stranded on Monday (September 3) on a dry, rocky islet belonging to Spain as they try to enter the country illegally.
    Eighty one immigrants landed last week on the 'Isla de Tierra' -- literally 'stone island', a deserted islet located 100 metres off the coast of Morocco but belonging to Spain, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.
    In a different incident, some 160 immigrants tried on Sunday night to break through the fence erected around the Spanish enclave of Melilla on the north african Mediterranean coast, local media reported.
    Reacting to the news, Spain foreign affairs minister Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the country was the target of mafias dedicated to human trafficking.
    "If you take into account the coincidence between the assault on the fence and the operation in the Alhucemas archipelago, those are operations coordinated by mafia trafficking human beings. Secondly, the immigrants who are on the Island of Tierra in the Alhucemas archipelago, the six person who needed urgent help on humanitarian grounds have been transferred to Melilla," Garcia-Margallo said during a joint news conference with Syrian national council president Abdul Baset Seida.
    The Spanish foreign minister praised cooperation with Morocco but said the situation could quickly get out of control.
    "We don't want our governments to find themselves in a position in which we are trying to control a situation like the one we had recently in Melilla but with a collateral or parallel operation with access to other islets Chafarinas, V�ez, Alhucemas etc. We could find an influx of immigrants on Spanish soil because they spread the word," Garcia-Margallo said.
    Garcia-Margallo also said he had convoked a reunion with his European Union counterparts, adding immigration policies had to be delt with at a European Union level.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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