Spain bracing for surge of African migrants to Canary Islands

By Corina Pons

TENERIFE, Spain (Reuters) - Spanish authorities fear that as many as 150,000 more migrants from Africa may be set to make the perilous crossing this year to the Canary Islands, already grappling with over 20,000 illegal arrivals so far, the regional leader said on Friday.

"We are seeing (mass arrivals) in August with bad sea conditions. In September, October and November it could be total distress," Fernando Clavijo told a news conference after a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

He said charity groups working with migrants had warned of some 150,000 people, many fleeing armed conflict in Mali, preparing to cross first to neighbouring Mauritania and then by boat to the Spanish archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean.

A boat carrying 173 migrants was rescued on Friday near the island of El Hierro, maritime rescue services said. One person on board had died.

Sanchez will on Tuesday embark on a tour of West African countries in a bid to support local efforts to contain illegal migration from Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia, the main departure points for migrant boats.

Clavijo praised the initiative, but also called on European and Spanish authorities to intensify diplomatic pressure on departure countries.

The route from Africa to the Canary Islands - whose population is around 2.2 million - has experienced a 154% surge in migrants this year, with 21,620 crossings to the archipelago in the first seven months, according to data from the European Union's border agency Frontex.

Thousands die at sea on that route, rights groups say.

Clavijo said the Canary Islands "cannot support that pressure alone" and urged political parties to amend the law on migration to allow transfers of thousands of underage migrants to mainland Spain, which he hoped could be agreed in the coming weeks after a failed attempt to pass the amendment a month ago.

He added that transferring the minors to regions able to offer them better living conditions was preferable to expanding the Canaries' reception capabilities.

(Reporting by Corina Pons; writing by Andrei Khalip; editing by David Latona and Mark Heinrich)