Spain's foreign minister said Wednesday his nation would send an emergency team to Mauritania to improve conditions at a crowded detention center for illegal West Africans migrants thwarted in their attempts to reach Europe.
Amnesty International said in a report last week that migrants trying to reach Europe were being ill-treated at a detention center in the Mauritanian coastal town of Nouadhibou. It said a group of 35 people expelled from Morocco were being held in an 8-meter by 5-meter cell with 17 bunk-beds, and some had to urinate into buckets in the room.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos said his nation would "help Mauritanian authorities improve" the detention center at Nouadhibou. Most migrants are held there for a few days or a week.
Moratinos said Spain would also launch "a new effort to train and build the capacities of Mauritanian police."
Every year, thousands of poor Africans seeking a better life in Europe attempt treacherous journeys in overcrowded boats, hoping to reach the Spanish mainland or Spain's Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa. Most are caught _ and an unknown number die, either from exposure or drowning.
The number of people trying to make the sea voyage has decreased markedly since last year because of tighter controls by authorities. Spain has led an effort by European nations to reduce the number of illegal migrants, sending boats to patrol the African coast. Local ad campaigns, some funded by Spain, show the dangers of sea voyages.
Amnesty said that West African nationals in Mauritania reported they have been "arbitrarily arrested in the street or at home and accused, apparently without any evidence, of intending to travel to Spain."
It cited Mauritania security forces as saying 3,257 people were held at the Nouadhibou center in 2007, then sent to neighboring "Senegal and Mali, regardless of their nationality or country of origin. These people are left at the border, often without much food and with no means of transport."
Amnesty International West Africa researcher Salvatore Sagues said Mauritania's harsh policies were "the result of intense pressure exerted on Mauritania by the European Union, and Spain in particular, as they seek to involve certain African countries in their attempt to combat irregular migration to Europe.
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Associated Press Writer Todd Pitman contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.
