DAKAR: Senegal intercepted 200 “irregular migrants,” the army said Friday, just days after 90 people drowned off the coast of Mauritania while attempting the same crossing.
The Senegalese navy on Friday detained a boat near the northern city of Saint-Louis, the latest in a string of interventions over the last few months.
The West African country’s army last week reported the interception of a boat carrying more than 250 “irregular migrants” from a number of African countries.
At least 25 people died on Monday when a different vessel capsized near Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott, according to the Sahelian country’s state-owned news agency.
A Europe-bound boat carrying around 170 people that set off from Senegal capsized off the Mauritanian coast in early July, killing nearly 90 people.
The disaster prompted Senegal’s Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko to urge people not to risk the Atlantic Ocean’s currents in overcrowded vessels that often are not seaworthy, and on which they do not carry sufficient drinking water.
But the route is increasingly used as authorities step up surveillance in the Mediterranean.
According to the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras, more than 5,000 people died trying to reach Spain by sea in the first five months of this year.
That represents the highest daily average toll since it began keeping records in 2007.
Senegalese navy intercepts 200 migrants near coast
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Senegalese navy intercepts 200 migrants near coast
- The Senegalese navy on Friday detained a boat near the northern city of Saint-Louis
- At least 25 people died on Monday when a different vessel capsized near Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott
California joins UN health network following US departure from WHO
- California Governor Gavin Newsom decried the United States’ move on Friday, calling it a “reckless decision” that will hurt many people
CALIFORNIA: California said on Friday it will become the first US state to join the World Health Organization’s global outbreak response network following the Trump administration’s decision to pull Washington out of the WHO.
The network, comprised of more than 360 technical institutions, responds to public health events with the deployment of staff and resources to affected countries. It has tackled major public health events, including COVID-19. The state’s decision to join the network comes more than a year after US President Donald Trump gave notice that Washington would depart from the WHO. On Thursday, it officially withdrew from the agency, saying its decision reflected failures in the UN health agency’s management of the pandemic.
California Governor Gavin Newsom decried the United States’ move on Friday, calling it a “reckless decision” that will hurt many people.
“California will not bear witness to the chaos this decision will bring,” Newsom said in a statement. “We will continue to foster partnerships across the globe and remain at the forefront of public health preparedness, including through our membership as the only state in WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network.”
The governor’s office said he met with the WHO’s Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, where they discussed collaborating to detect and respond to emerging public health threats.
The WHO did not immediately respond when reached for comment.
