Spain and Senegal confirm in Madrid the "solidness" of their cooperation on migration issues

The Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, meets with the Minister for Home Affairs and Public Security, General Jean-Baptiste Tine, in Madrid

The Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, received his Senegalese counterpart, the Minister for Home Affairs and Public Security, General Jean-Baptiste Tine, in Madrid, whom he thanked for the "solidity and strength" of the bilateral relationship in migratory matters, which he described as "one of the best examples of cooperation in our environment".

"We are aware of the efforts in the fight against irregular immigration that Senegal makes on a daily basis at its borders and at sea," said Grande-Marlaska during the meeting. The minister stressed the importance of this "key" work to protect the lives of vulnerable migrants and to fight against human smuggling networks. "You can continue to count on Spain to prevent the deaths at sea of young Senegalese people," he added.

The state law enforcement forces and agencies have been deployed in Senegal for almost two decades in cooperation with local security forces, to prevent irregular departures from its coasts, and to investigate criminal networks of irregular immigration and to provide training and technical advice.

This deployment is currently made up of 33 civil guards and 3 national police officers who carry out joint patrols, with the support of four boats, a helicopter and 13 all-terrain vehicles. An aircraft based at Dakar airport and a Guardia Civil ocean-going vessel regularly join the deployment.

Joint preventive surveillance efforts have led to an increase in the number of irregular departures prevented at source, from 700 interceptions in 2022 to 10,000 in 2024.

Two National Police officers also take part in the teams integrated in the Joint Operational Partnership and the Joint Operational Partnerships Network, two projects financed by the EU and aimed at exchanging information and designing strategies to combat migrant smuggling together with the Senegalese security forces.

The two ministers reaffirmed their willingness to move forward in the joint fight against transnational organised crime, as set out in the Declaration of Intent signed in August 2024 in Dakar, on the occasion of the visit of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to Senegal.

"Both in the framework of the commitments made as signatories to the Niamey Declaration, to fight resolutely against human smuggling and trafficking, and in the promotion of international security in the International Security Alliance, Spain and Senegal are called upon to play a pre-eminent role in the promotion of global security", stressed Grande-Marlaska.

During his visit to Madrid, which began on Thursday, the Senegalese minister also met with the Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez; the Director General of the Police, Francisco Pardo; the head of the Border and Maritime Police Command, Lieutenant General Manuel Navarrete, and the Director of the Centre for Intelligence against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO), Javier Marín.

Non official translation