The president of the Canary Islands calls on Europe for greater cooperation with Mauritania on migration issues
After meeting with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ahmed Ould, Fernando Clavijo lamented that the EU and Trump do not understand what is happening in Africa
The President of the Canary Islands Government, Fernando Clavijo, has called for greater collaboration between the European Union and Mauritania to address the migration crisis and cooperate in the fight against human trafficking mafias.
Clavijo, on an official visit to Mauritania, the third by a Canary Islands president to the country, was received by President Mohamed Ahmed Ould, whom he thanked for his cooperation in the fight against the mafias and in coastal surveillance.
From the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, the Canarian president called on the European Union to deepen its development and cooperation policies with Mauritania on migration issues. Clavijo emphasised the need for the EU to become more involved in the Sahel region, from which the European peacekeeping mission withdrew in May 2024 and whose conflicts are one of the factors driving mass migration to the shores of the Canary Islands.
Cooperation with West Africa
The Canarian president insisted that the only way to face a structural challenge such as migration is through cooperation with the places where it originates, both Mauritania and other West African countries: ‘They need resources and collaboration to be able to generate opportunities here, because if we insist on building walls and creating barriers we are not understanding anything of what is happening,’ Clavijo lamented.
With regard to the position of both the European Union and the new Trump Administration, the President of the Canary Islands Government emphasised that ‘unfortunately Europe and Trump are on different paths’.
The key is to understand the reality of migration ‘from both sides’: ‘either you are able to come here as we have done these days and listen to them or all the solutions we put on the table are doomed to failure. There are no magic wands to solve it,’ he said.
Atlantic Route
One of the objectives of the visit to Nouakchott by the Canarian president was to analyse, together with the Mauritanian head of government and his ministers of foreign affairs, economy and youth, employment and sport, the increase in the transit of migrants along the dangerous Atlantic Route, especially since the second half of 2023.
Clavijo insisted that both the Canary Islands and Mauritania are transit territories for migrants seeking to reach Europe. Mauritania shares borders with countries such as Mali, Senegal and the troubled Sahel region, which causes the arrival of a continuous flow of thousands of people fleeing hunger and war, and who aspire to cross the sea in a cayuco (a traditional wooden boat) towards the Canary Islands.
During the meeting, the Canarian president thanked the Mauritanian government for maintaining dialogue and cooperation with the Spanish government to reinforce surveillance of its coasts, preventing the departure of canoes.
Likewise, Clavijo praised Mauritania's efforts in its fight against human trafficking mafias, a fight to which the Canarian president considers that the European Union is not contributing adequately.
Tierra Firme Project
Fernando Clavijo also took advantage of his visit to Mauritania to present the Tierra Firme project to the country's president and ministers and his plans to extend this initiative to Mauritania over the coming months. Clavijo is committed to ‘giving opportunities to African youth’ as the best way to discourage them from undertaking the dangerous journey in a cayuco (a type of boat) towards a better future in Europe.
With this in mind, the president of the Canary Islands plans to meet with the Minister of Vocational Training, Crafts and Trades, Maalainine Ould Eyih, and with the Spanish ambassador, Miriam Álvarez de la Rosa, to discuss the Tierra Firme project and visit one of its first initiatives: the Technical and Industrial Vocational Training Centre in Nouakchott, where 40 young people are receiving vocational training in the fields of reinforcement steel and construction.
Mauritania, a transit country
The visit of the president of the Canary Islands, the third by an autonomous region leader to Mauritania after those in 2007 and 2014, comes at a time when the Canary Islands are facing their biggest migration crisis in the last 30 years.
According to official figures from the Government of the Canary Islands, a total of 86,753 migrants have arrived in the archipelago in the last two years, while non-governmental organisations estimate that around 10,000 people lost their lives trying to reach the Canary Islands in 2024 alone.
Although Mauritania is the main country of origin of the canoes heading for the archipelago (54% of the 658 who arrived or were rescued in 2024), it is only a transit country for migrants, as only 6% of those who arrived in the Canary Islands are of Mauritanian nationality.
It is a country of passage or a stopover from which migrants from Senegal, Mali or other countries in conflict in the Sahel region try to make the leap to Europe.
