Nearly 170 rescued Senegalese migrants returned after Mauritania refused to take them in

By ZANE IRWIN
Associated Press

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Nearly 170 migrants have returned to Senegal after spending almost a week in limbo on a Spanish rescue boat. The ministry for Senegalese abroad confirms that a Spanish vessel which rescued migrants off the coast of Mauritania brought them to the Senegalese port city of Saint Louis from which they are thought to have departed. Reports in Spain say that Mauritanian authorities refused to allow the migrants on their territory while they waited at sea for several days. Tens of thousands of people across West Africa board rickety wooden boats bound for Europe every year. Many seek to escape political unrest, youth unemployment and worsening conditions for fishing and farming.