Spain and Senegal agree to strengthen bilateral cooperation on fighting terrorism, organised crime and drug trafficking, and to enhance management of migratory flows

At the meeting, Juan Ignacio Zoido told his Senegalese counterpart that the home affairs ministries of Spain and Senegal are engaged in "exemplary" cooperation; a fine example of that "excellent collaboration and understanding" being the presence of a significant contingent of Spanish Guardia Civil and National Police officers in Dakar, who "work closely every day" with the Senegalese Security Forces.

Juan Ignacio Zoido and Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo agreed that, although this bilateral collaboration between Spain and Senegal started in 2006 to combat illegal immigration, the two countries have successfully expanded these efforts to encompass other areas, such as the fight against international terrorism, organised crime and other illegal trafficking.

The Spanish Minister for Home Affairs reminded his Senegalese counterpart that, despite budgetary restrictions, Spain has not reduced its efforts in terms of cooperation with Senegal and, between 2012 and now, has maintained both three million euros in direct subsidies for the fight against illegal immigration and its cooperation on police training with Senegal. In this regard, Juan Ignacio Zoido welcomed Senegal's unwavering commitment to Spain in the fight against illegal immigration by sea, and committed to maintaining the support given by Spain every year to Senegal to help combat this form of migration and control its borders.

This cooperation has helped to noticeably reduce illegal migratory flows in recent years between the two countries via the Atlantic Ocean and, more specifically, to significantly reduce the number of deaths at sea and the activity by people traffickers. To realise the effectiveness of this collaboration, one need only remember the so-called "Cayucos Crisis" of 2006 that led to the arrival of over 39,000 illegal immigrants on Spanish coasts, the majority of them (31,678) in the Canary Islands. Of that total, 16,126 were Senegalese nationals. Since then, those illegal migratory flows have been steadily and extraordinarily decreasing as a result of controls and international cooperation on prevention at source.

Juan Ignacio Zoido stressed that this excellent bilateral relationship has meant that no vessel has reached the Canary Islands from Senegal since 2009. However, Spain has not reduced its ongoing commitment to cooperating with Senegal. "We must maintain and strengthen our mutual support and work together on keeping the Atlantic seaboard migration route closed and controlling migratory flows", said the Spanish Minister for Home Affairs.

Furthermore, the two ministers agreed that the best way to combat illegal immigration and, above all, the networks engaged in people trafficking is prevention at source and frank and sincere cooperation between the two countries.

After signing a Joint Declaration in Dakar on Thursday, 20 July, the two home affairs ministers reaffirmed the commitment by Spain and Senegal to continued cooperation in the fight against illegal immigration and people trafficking, which will lead to the negotiation of a new Memorandum of Cooperation between the two countries.

Cooperation at an EU level

Ministerio del InteriorJuan Ignacio Zoido and Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo highlighted the involvement by Spain and Senegal in major European Union projects, which the two men described as "a fine example of frank and effective cooperation". In this regard, Juan Ignacio Zoido told his counterpart from Senegal that "the excellent relations maintained by our departments with regard to the management of migratory flows are admired by all other EU countries".

Juan Ignacio Zoido shared with the Senegalese Home Affairs Minister a number of success stories, such as the now concluded Seahorse and West Sahel projects, and the importance given by Spain to the European FRONTEX Agency's Operation HERA, as well as the Blue Sahel and GAR-SI Sahel projects currently under way and being headed up by Spain.

Fight against international terrorism

The home affairs ministers of Spain and Senegal said that they share the same concern over the threat of Jihadi terrorism. For his part, Juan Ignacio Zoido expressed to his Senegalese counterpart the will of Spain and his Ministry of Home Affairs to work with Senegal on the fight against Jihadi terrorism.

In this regard, Juan Ignacio Zoido said that the Spanish State law enforcement agencies are making a great effort in the fight against Jihadi terrorism, evidence of which can be found in the fact that, since the start of 2017, a total of 50 people have been arrested in 35 counter-Jihadi terrorism operations (the most recent of which was on 12 July) and that, since 11 March 2004 (when the terrorist attacks took place in Madrid), a total of 241 counter-Jihadi terrorism operations have been carried out leading to a total of 787 arrests.

Recent actions against Jihadi terrorism in Spain are mostly focused on the break-up of networks engaged in the recruitment, indoctrination and dispatch of combatants to conflict zones, mainly Syria, in order for them to join the terrorist groups operating in those areas, especially DAESH. The Internet plays a fundamental role in such recruitment and indoctrination activities.

Furthermore, since 26 June 2015, the year in which the Spanish Ministry of Home Affairs raised the Counter-Terrorism Alert Level to level 4 (Spanish acronym: NAA), the law enforcement agencies have arrested a total of 185 Jihadist terrorists in operations carried out in Spain and abroad, and a total of 230 since the start of 2015.

Juan Ignacio Zoido underlined the importance of continuing to strengthen cooperation and the exchange of information between the security forces of the two countries in the fight against Jihadi terrorism with such instruments as the Collaboration Protocol between the Spanish Centre for Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Intelligence (Spanish acronym: CITCO) and the Senegalese National Intelligence Office (DNR).

Police cooperation with Senegal

Ministerio del InteriorDuring this trip to Senegal, the Spanish Minister for Home Affairs, Juan Ignacio Zoido, visited the Guardia Civil and National Police detachments deployed at the Port of Dakar to hear about the work carried out by officers of the Spanish and Senegalese Security Forces.

Since 2006, a helicopter from the Aerial Resources Service of the Spanish National Police Force and two patrol ships from the Maritime Service of the Spanish Guardia Civil with 15 officers have been permanently involved in the operation to combat illegal immigration. An ocean-going vessel of the Spanish Guardia Civil also carries out patrols every month. Furthermore, an aircraft from the Spanish Guardia Civil conducts maritime patrols every four months.

During a three-month period of the year (August to October), the maritime resources of the Spanish Guardia Civil deployed in the country join Operation HERA, which is coordinated by the European FRONTEX Agency in collaboration with Senegal and Spain, as well as other Member States of the European Union.

Furthermore, the Spanish Embassy in Dakar has a Home Affairs Councillor, a Home Affairs Attaché, an Operational Support Officer and a Security Unit consisting of four members of the Spanish National Police Force.