Another day, another desperate wave of humanity

ROME - More than a thousand illegal African immigrants poured into Spain's Canary Islands, northwest of Morocco, at the weekend, packed into 11 flimsy wooden boats called cayucos.

On Sunday alone, 674 disembarked from eight cayucos, said to be the most to land on a single day.

More than 20,000 have reached the Canaries this year, more than three times the total for all of last year.

The latest arrivals had endured sea journeys lasting many days, departing from Mauritania, Senegal and other spots on Africa's west coast far to the south of the Canaries.

Three of the arrivals required hospital treatment for trauma and exhaustion, but most were in good shape.

They were among the lucky ones; at least 84 would-be immigrants were said to have drowned off Mauritania while trying to reach the Canaries.

The figure is little better than a guess, however: Spanish authorities believe there were about 150 on board the two stricken boats, of whom only 18 are known to have survived. The rest, nameless, joined the thousands who have perished on this route.

At least 490 bodies have been retrieved from the sea off the Canaries this year. Around 3000 people are believed to have died in recent years.

The new arrivals heightened the sense of crisis along the EU's southern border. In May, Spain and the Government of the Canaries declared that they could no longer manage on their own.

In an agreement reached with great fanfare in Brussels in July, the EU promised to provide boats, aircraft and a handful of experts for a nine-week mission to monitor the problem.

But Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, Spain's Deputy Prime Minister, said last week that help from the EU was too little and too slow.

"Controlling and securing a border requires more boats, more patrols and more co-ordination," she said, urging all EU member states to contribute.

Spain's efforts were preventing even more illegal immigrants reaching the rest of Europe, she said. "Political leaders in the north of Europe should act accordingly."

Franco Frattini, the EU commissioner for migration, endorsed de la Vega's appeal, but said the commission, which had provided €3 million ($5.8 million) for the mission announced in July, had no more money available this year.

"All EU states want to see their borders secure," said Elizabeth Collett of the European Policy Centre, "but when it comes to committing funds, it's another question."

Days after backing the minister's appeal, Frattini blamed Spanish policy for encouraging the flow.

Spain announced a three-month amnesty for illegal immigrants in February last year, encouraging them to declare their presence, hoist themselves out of the illegal economy and start paying taxes.

More than 600,000 took advantage of the invitation, which was fiercely criticised elsewhere in Europe.

Frattini echoed that criticism, saying such amnesties only enticed more to risk their lives trying to get into Europe.

Yet Frattini's country, Italy (where he served as foreign minister), is scarcely less vulnerable to this charge than Spain. Nearly 13,000 immigrants have reached Italy's southernmost islands from the north coast of Africa so far this year.

- INDEPENDENT