From the plains of Mali to the rice fields of Guinea, illegal migration has become part of modern West African folklore. It inspires songs, dominates conversations and provokes controversy.

When the Senegalese government repatriated 99 illegal migrants from the Spanish Canary Islands to the capital Dakar last May, people demonstrated in the streets against the government. This time, after concluding another repatriation agreement with Spain, Senegal quietly flew in nearly 5,000 illegal migrants to the northern city of Saint Louis over a period of several weeks.

“You have to go to Europe because there is nothing here,” said returnee Ahmed Fall, 30. “I was scared but you have to go.”

Point of departure

The West African coastline, including Senegal, is a springboard for migrants seeking to reach Europe. They board large, open fishing boats and head for the Canary Islands, about 1,500 km off the southern coast of Senegal. This year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than 24,000 migrants have journeyed to the Canary Islands by boat. An undetermined number of others have died at sea.

Mauritania and Morocco to the north used to be popular points of departure but after they stepped up coastal patrols migrants looked for more obscure beaches, including those in Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Spain has been negotiating with all of those countries to help stem illegal migration in exchange for economic assistance to keep would-be migrants home.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said during a recent visit to Guinea that although his country wanted young migrants to come to Spain, Madrid would prefer that they do so legally. He pledged five million Euros to help the Guinea government combat illegal migration.

“This is a small amount, which cannot solve all of this problem,” he said during his visit. “But it could act as a start whereby opportunities could be created for these youths through small-scale businesses, micro-credit … and this will help them stay in their countries of origin.”

Political concerns

But few people, except for European politicians, have an interest in keeping the migrants at home, analysts say. The migrants themselves want to make a better living, their families want them to send home remittances and their governments want to avoid criticism.

This is especially true in Senegal, where presidential elections are to be held next year.

“They need the youths to vote for them,” said one Western relief worker. “It’s political - by accepting that Spain returns people by force they realise that each family has between 40 and 80 persons who will not vote for the president.”

The recent case of the returnees to Saint Louis could hypothetically translate into 200,000 to 400,000 lost votes for President Abdoulaye Wade.

Opportunity not lost

But where votes might be lost, funding could be gained. The migrants come from some of the world’s poorest countries where jobs are scarce.

“Migrants are becoming like commercial goods used by governments to say, ‘You pay and we will try to curb it,’ or ‘We have no means [to fight it] and it will go on’,” the relief worker said.

The repatriation agreement with Senegal is not binding. If Spain wants to send back more Senegalese migrants, it will have to negotiate with Dakar all over again.

In the meantime, West African migrants filling up the holding centres in the Canaries are free after 40 days, according to Spanish law. Spain usually puts them on a plane for the mainland to clear out the popular tourist archipelago. Although the migrants are required to provide an address where they can be located for future repatriation, overwhelmingly they disappear in Madrid, Barcelona or other Spanish cities.