Parents of hundreds of minor children shipped to Spain in a wave of illegal emigration from Senegal in recent years are not keen to have them back under a planned repatriation exercise.
”I don’t want my only son, my sole hope in life, to come back to Senegal,” sobbed Diodo Seye, a housewife in Senegal’s Kayar village, north of the oceanside capital.
Her son is at a centre in the Spanish Canary Islands, along with a thousand other Senegalese minors who clandestinely left with adult illegal emigrants, in the last few years.
The children could soon be heading back home if a deal is reached between Madrid and Dakar, as well as with their families.
The Canary Islands have become a major target for African illegal migrants hoping to get to Europe to find jobs and a better life. They attempt the perilous journey in rickety boats, often with Senegal as one of the key departure points.
Tens of thousands of them have made it, including many minors. The International Organisation for Migration has said children illegally immigrating with adults ”is a new trend for sub-Saharan Africa”.
Senegal says there are about 1 000 of its nationals, most of them aged between 10 and 13, now being kept and trained at centres on the islands.
Because of their ages, they can neither work nor be sent back home without their consent or that of their parents as long as they are below 18-years-old.
Seye, who had to borrow 400 000 CFA francs ($890) to raise the boat fare, cannot bear the idea of her son Ndiace Mbaye (17) returning to roam, barefoot and idle, the sandy lanes of Kayar fishing village, as do thousands of others.
He has to ”stay in Spain to help me. His father died and I suffer from hypertension”, said the woman in her 50s wiping off tears with flap of her African blue robe.
Deputy mayor of Kayar, Lamine Drame, said some of the migrant boys lie about their ages on arrival to avoid the inevitable repatriation.
Khady Sall, whose son is among those held by Spain, says he has lost sleep since the government indicated last month that the minors — some of whom it said were being held in ”atrocious” conditions — should be repatriated.
”I no longer sleep since the government announced the return of our children. My son Mamadou Ka is 17-years. He is there to help his poor parents,” he said.
Mor Wade, a 50-year old peasant, is father to Youssou (16) who ”left so that he can help me tomorrow”. He 300 000 CFA francs ($660) to fund the boy’s trip.
Wade pulls out a white handwritten paper, a bit difficult to read, showing his son’s ”home address” in Spain and the subjects he is studying there.
”There are 40 people in our family. My brother, who is in Italy is the only one looking after us, [and] the government is … [trying] to bring them back,” he said.
Marguette Beye, a roadside vendor selling bread and fish balls, does not want ”to hear talk of the return of Cheikhou Kane,” her 16-year-old who left for Spain in September last year.
”He sent me 100 000 CFA francs in October from savings he made out of the stipends they receive at the centre,” she said.
The teenager is studying carpentry in Spain and ”is doing well” she said proudly, showing a picture of a young man dressed in jeans, a cap and carrying a rosary.
”Apart from God, this child is my only hope. What will he do here? Fishing is no longer profitable,” she said.
In a desperate bid to avert the looming return of her son, Khoudia Mbaye Dia ceaselessly calls for divine intervention shouting, ”Allah! Allah!” – Sapa-AFP