It’s hard to believe that this picturesque fishing village in Senegal is connected with the refugee crisis unfolding across Europe. But just 10 years ago, the village of Kayar was one of the main departure points for West Africans attempting the dangerous journey to Spain’s Canary Islands.
On its soft white beach, hundreds of young men would gather to pile into brightly painted wooden fishing boats. They were prepared to risk their lives for the chance of a better future.
“Europe or die, we told each other. Everyone here wanted to get away, everyone,” says Mor Mbengue, a fisherman who was 23 years old when he left in the middle of the night in August 2006.
With 74 others, he climbed aboard an old boat filled with cans of petrol and food for the 1,500km journey to the Canary Islands: the gateway to Europe.
Mor and his friends were born fishermen. They grew up playing in the waves and knew well how to handle the rough sea. But some of the other passengers had no experience with the water.
“Some were convinced they could walk on water,” he says. “We had to tie them up to prevent them from jumping overboard.”
In 2006, the number of West Africans trying to reach Europe peaked. More than 30,000 left from Senegal and neighbouring countries like Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Ghana that year.
At least 6,000 of them died, either from drowning or starving to death on the long boat journey.
“Their engine might have stopped working at some point, leaving them floating on open water endlessly, lost and never found again,” says Mor.
On the Canary Islands, Europeans watched as the rickety fishing boats came ashore; their passengers dehydrated, hungry and burned from days under the harsh sun. They were confused but euphoric at having made it.
Alarmed, Spain called for help from the European Union (EU). In July 2006, its border agency, Frontex, began boat and aircraft patrols of the seas. Those caught were either turned back towards the West African coast or repatriated by plane. Frontex refers to the mission as the “birth of sea operations”.
By 2008, the Canary route to Europe had been completely sealed off.
Now, 10 years after it reached its peak, many West Africans still dream of Europe. And some still attempt to make it. But now, they must take a different route: heading north towards Libya or Algeria, via Bamako in Mali, Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and Agadèz in northern Niger before crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Italy. They often begin their journey independently, travelling on public transport, but the farther north they go, the more dependent upon smugglers they become.
Al Jazeera