The Libya deal had stopped the migration from Africa to Europe. But it was probably only a rest. The route has shifted. On a well-known route, new smuggling networks are forming.
“It’s really unbelievable, so many refugee boats have not existed for a long time,” says Patou Sedrick angrily. “They leave from all parts of the Moroccan coast.” The 32-year-old man from Cameroon himself had come to Morocco years ago as a refugee through the Sahara.

But he did not travel on but remained in the port city of Tangier and since then helps as a human rights activist the migrants from Africa. “There have to be hundreds of people reaching Spain every week,” says Sedrick. “Just recently, 600 people were rescued on a single day.” The official figures confirm his feeling. Since the beginning of the year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), almost 18,000 refugees have come to Spain by boat. Compared to the previous year, the number has almost tripled. Since the middle of September alone, 7,000 people have crossed the Straits of Gibraltar.

Already in August, the Spanish authorities had noticed a significant increase in the number of refugees crossing the strait of Gibraltar. “88 percent increase in the first eight months compared to 2016,” said Spain’s Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido. Now the trend is confirmed even in the autumn months, although at this time of year weather conditions at sea are usually worse and more dangerous.

The first refugee deal

In the far north of Morocco, there are only 14 kilometers between Africa and Europe. In good, sunny weather, Spain is within reach on the other side of the strait. But for about a decade, hardly any refugees had taken the once most important migration route to Spain. Madrid had a kind of refugee deal with Morocco about a decade ago. Since then, the Moroccan security forces have been much stronger against traffickers.

So the escape routes shifted. Especially to Libya, where the tugs took advantage of the power vacuum after the overthrow of the dictator Gaddafi. There was the central escape route. Last year, nearly 200,000 people came to Italy via this route. This year, even higher numbers were reported by July than in the previous year. Then Italy took the initiative and closed the Libya route single-handedly.