SPAIN: Tension mounts at Spanish enclaves in North Africa as wave of illegal immigration plan to cross the border

Record ID: 348711

  • Title: SPAIN: Tension mounts at Spanish enclaves in North Africa as wave of illegal immigration plan to cross the border
  • Date: 7th October 2005
  • Summary: AFRICAN MIGRANTS PLAYING DRUMS AND DANCING AT STADIUM (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 22nd October 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVABXZZ028YT2FSEH8WMCDZJ4F57
  • Story Text: Hiding out in the woods, dodging Moroccan soldiers, Cameroonian Ibrahim Salim spent six months plotting how to clamber over the razor-wire fences separating Spanish territory from Africa.
    With the help of ladders and dozens of other young Africans, he tried to cross the double fence four times but Algerian border.
    This week, he finally reached Spain's North African enclave Melilla, a multi-cultural seaside city where veiled women wander along dusty paths lined with Spanish-style buildings, and now finds himself in a dusty and overcrowded Red Cross centre.
    "The reason I go out of Cameroon to come here is that I have a very very poor family, I am the first son of my family so that's why I tried to go out. Maybe in the future I can bring my family up, to help many people in my life. That's why I am here today," the 26-year-old said. Ibrahim's story is the same as hundreds of mainly West African migrants who have tried to storm across the border in large groups in the last weeks. Five were killed in one attempt. Spain and Morocco have opened investigations but neither side has said how they died.
    Another Cameroonian, Fortu Don Simon started his journey near the equator in humid Cameroon. He travelled, sometimes on foot, through Nigeria and the desert expanses of Algeria and Niger, where he saw the skeletons of those who had died making the same journey. "I want to go to Spain because I like the country. I've been hearing about the country ever since so I decided to go there to see iwhat I had been hearing was true. So that's why I want go there. I like the country, it's my favourite country amongst all the countries in the world," he told Reuters.
    In the woods northwest of Melilla's border with Morocco, the migrants make ladders from trees, binding the branches together with cloth or nails. Don Simon said they formed groups of five, with two ladders between them, which they pass to each other in relay as they scramble over the fence -- 3 metres (10 ft) in some places, 6 metres in others.
    Salim is now in Spanish territory and as his country has no repatriation agreement with Spain, he expects to be taken to the Spanish mainland within two months. Spain has said it could start sending migrants back over the Moroccan border, but even if it does, the hundreds still hiding in the woods are unlikely to be deterred. From their makeshift camps in the woods, the Africans, all with months of arduous travel behind them, can see the lights of Melilla. Near where they sleep, the Moroccan army has set up camp. Hundreds of Spanish and Moroccan soldiers and policemen watch over the fence day and night. The migrants say Moroccan police and troops have destroyed their camps and burned their possessions, but they cling on in the forests, planning their entry to Europe.
    For many, the Moroccan leg is the worst part of the journey. "If we are not fast enough they can catch us and expel us," said 28-year Joseph Ngvednya as he watched a Cameroon vs Mali soccer game in a stadium in Melilla. Ngvednya left Cameroon, in 2004 on a bus to Nigeria and then walked through Algeria and Morocco to get to Europe's border. Before dawn on Wednesday (October 05), he tried to scramble over the barrier for the fourth time. Crossing the land border has become more popular as the main alternative -- paying smugglers for a ride on a rickety boat to southern Spain or the Canary Islands -- is too expensive.
    The fence is probably safer too: ATIME, a Moroccan non governmental organisation, reckons more than 4,000 people have died since 1997 crossing the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco and the short stretch of sea to the Canary Islands.
    The long, low-lying boats used by smugglers often sink or capsize and many migrants do not know how to swim. Others are hungry and dehydrated when they arrive at their destination. Spain has Europe's only land border with Africa, making it an obvious choice, but a recent one-off move to give papers to immigrants already working illegally in the country has encouraged some to see Spain as migrant-friendly.
    "I feel very well, thank God. It is the final objective of all migrants to arrive here in Melilla in Spain and then to go up the (Iberian) Peninsula to look for a job," said Joseph. Spain has become a kind of promised land for many like Joseph Ngvednya who smiles all day since he jumped the fence.
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