NOUAKCHOTT: More than 1,000 migrants have been rescued off the coast of Mauritania over 10 days, its coast guard said Tuesday, signalling a resurgence in migration along the perilous Atlantic route.
Thousands of people, most of them young, have tried to reach Europe from west Africa in recent years, mainly via the Spanish Canary Islands, on overcrowded and often dilapidated boats known as pirogues.
The latest departures took place a few days after the major Muslim festival of Tabaski at the end of May, following a lull for several months.
Given the new uptick “at this rate, arrivals could reach an unprecedented level this year,” Ahmed Moulaye, director of the Mauritanian coast guard’s irregular migration unit, told AFP.
“In the space of 10 days, 1,076 migrants were rescued in Mauritanian waters, including 194 taken into custody by the Mauritanian Navy during an operation to assist a pirogue on May 31,” he said.
