Foreign overfishing in Senegal fuels migration to Spain, a report finds
DAKAR, Senegal — Overfishing by foreign vessels is decimating fish stocks in the West African country of Senegal , which is in turn fueling migration to Spain, according to a report released Tuesday.
The Environmental Justice Foundation, a London-based group specializing in environmental and human rights issues, said illegal overfishing and destructive practices by foreign vessels are responsible for increased irregular migration to Spain . It based its conclusions on interviews with fishermen in Spain and Senegal and its prior research on foreign overfishing.
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Washington Post
10 hours ago
- Washington Post
A powerful, opaque al-Qaeda affiliate is rampaging across West Africa
TUMU, Ghana — In the space of just a few months, the al-Qaeda affiliate has overrun major cities in Burkina Faso and Mali, carried out the deadliest-ever attack on soldiers in Benin and expanded its hard-line Islamist rule across the region. No one knows when its fighters will strike next — or where they plan to stop. After years spent quietly gaining strength, Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) is now the most well-armed militant force in West Africa and among the most powerful in the world, according to regional and Western officials, with as many as 6,000 fighters under its command. Local strategies employed to combat JNIM are accelerating its rise, officials and experts say, as atrocities by West African forces have allowed the group to claim the moral high ground and legitimize its growing authority. The United States has largely pulled back from — or been pushed out — of the fight, leaving in its wake a deepening security vacuum and mounting anxiety over JNIM's aims and capabilities. 'They're creating a proto-state that stretches like a belt from western Mali all the way to the borderlands of Benin. … It is a substantial — even exponential — expansion,' said Héni Nsaibia, West Africa senior analyst for the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project, or ACLED, a nonprofit research group. JNIM, along with the rival Islamic State-Sahel Province, has turned the region into an epicenter of Islamist insurgency. The Institute for Economics & Peace's annual index last year found 51 percent of terrorism deaths worldwide were in the Sahel, a vast, tumultuous region south of the Sahara that spans the breadth of Africa. The chaos ravaging the region has helped military officers seize power in coups — vowing to break with the West and restore calm. But in most countries the security situation has only gotten worse. In 2024, Burkina Faso ranked as the nation most affected by terrorist violence for a second straight year, and Niger saw the largest increase in terrorism-related deaths globally. In a sign of JNIM's southward spread, Togo reported the most terrorist attacks it its history; Benin has reported nearly as many deaths in the first three months of this year than in all of 2024. Increasingly, experts say, JNIM's informant and supply chain networks are stretching into stable nations such as Ghana, Senegal and Guinea. Governments fear their fighters could soon follow. The Washington Post interviewed experts and officials in five countries to shed light on why the group is growing so fast — and what its end game might be. Reporters also traveled to the porous borderlands between Burkina Faso and Ghana, where tens of thousands have fled violence by JNIM and government forces, to speak to refugees about life under militant rule. They recounted how gun-toting JNIM members burst into mosques in Burkina Faso in recent years, announcing that strict Islamic laws would be implemented, schools would be closed and state institutions would be targeted. Violating the rules, the extremists made clear, would carry a price. Nearly 6,000 civilians have been killed by the group in the past five years, according to ACLED data. Refugees said that initially, they rejected the group outright. But their anger was redirected by the government's response: a militia-led wave of killing targeting the Fulanis, a semi-nomadic, predominantly Muslim ethnic minority spread out across West Africa. Skeptical locals became eager recruits. 'They were afraid, and they ran to them,' said Amadou Diallo, a 69-year-old Burkinabe refugee, describing his three daughters and their husbands who joined JNIM after militia members killed scores of their fellow Fulani. As the threat grows across West Africa, the region has largely fallen off the radar in Washington, according to interviews with four current and former U.S. officials. Like other officials in this story, they spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details. American drones once flown from Niger — where U.S. troops were forced out last year by the country's military junta — have been moved out of West Africa, according to two former U.S. officials with knowledge of the situation. They added that plans to relocate the drones to Ivory Coast and Benin have been scrapped. There are now fewer than 200 troops in the region, mostly stationed in countries along the coast — down from about 1,400 as recently as 2023 — according to current and former officials. U.S. Africa Command (Africom) declined to comment for this story. A spokesperson pointed to recent remarks by Gen. Michael E. Langley, the head of Africom, who emphasized that the U.S. was focused on helping African nations build the 'self-reliance' to fight terrorism. But the vast majority of programs run through the Global Fragility Act — a multiyear initiative intended to bolster stability in vulnerable West African countries — have been shut down by the Trump administration. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment. 'JNIM is ascendant,' one of the former U.S. officials said. 'In a region where we used to monitor what was happening, we no longer have the tools.' JNIM, founded in Mali in 2017 as an umbrella organization combining four Islamist extremist groups, is headed by Iyad ag Ghali and Amadou Koufa, leaders of a 2012 uprising that saw separatists and Islamists take over much of the country's north. Ag Ghali belongs to the mostly Muslim Tuareg ethnic group, which has fought for decades to establish an independent state in northern Mali. Koufa is a Fulani preacher based in central Mali. The differences between the two men have given the group broad appeal — and contributed to uncertainty about its goals. The group operates on a 'franchise' model, experts say, tailoring its strategies to local customs and its recruiting to local grievances. But wherever its fighters go, they enforce a strict Salafist version of Islamic law. Ali Diallo, a 53-year-old herder from Burkina Faso's Boucle du Mouhoun region, was washing himself before prayers at his local mosque in 2023 when a group of bearded men wearing turbans forced him and other men inside and locked the door. 'I thought we were going to die,' Ali Diallo said, recalling that the men wore machine guns across their chests. 'But two men stood where the imam usually stood and started preaching. They said their fight was with the government and their goal was to spread Islam, not to kill us.' Shortly afterward, the extremists closed his children's school. 'We were angry,' said Asseta Diallo, his 19-year-old daughter. 'We just started sitting at home.' Strict dress codes were enforced in the community, with veils required for women and short pants for men. Naming and wedding ceremonies were banned. Loud music too. In its strongholds in central and southern Mali, experts say, the group has made agreements with communities that compel residents to adhere to JNIM's rules and pay zakat, or taxes, in exchange for not being attacked. In recent months, these local pacts have allowed JNIM to shift its focus, and move its manpower, to neighboring Burkina Faso and coastal nations such as Benin. 'These guys are smart, sophisticated and evolving,' said Corinne Dufka, a veteran Sahel analyst based in Washington. 'And now, there is a model for mainstreaming their political evolution.' Some of JNIM's senior figures, Dufka said, are looking to Ahmed al-Sharaa — the Syrian leader who has recast himself as a moderate after once being associated with al-Qaeda — as a potential model for their own trajectory. When Sharaa's rebel group overthrew the Assad regime last year, JNIM issued a statement of congratulations. And when Koufa was interviewed by a French journalist in October, he did not mention al-Qaeda, prompting speculation about a possible break with the group. Western and West African officials and experts estimate JNIM has between 5,000 and 6,000 combatants but say a lack of intelligence makes it difficult to arrive at a definitive figure. Fighters have long targeted symbols of foreign influence in the region, including attacks against French and U.N. forces, and more recently have threatened Russian mercenaries fighting alongside Malian troops. Aneliese Bernard, a former State Department adviser who now runs a private security firm working in West Africa, said the group has metastasized to such an extent that it now 'directly impacts [U.S.] national security.' And, she added, 'they are expanding undeterred into the countries we have long considered robust security partners.' Military officers have staged coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in response to the growing violence, promising an all-out war against the extremists. In Burkina Faso, President Ibrahim Traoré's strategy has hinged on arming more than 50,000 militia members, who have committed scores of atrocities, rights groups say. Each attack has become a recruiting opportunity for JNIM. In March, in the town of Solenzo, Burkina Faso, government militias killed dozens of mostly Fulani civilians and filmed the aftermath, according to rights groups. Videos shared by the perpetrators on social media showed the dead, including women and children, piled into trucks. In the days after the attack, JNIM released videos condemning the government. 'These miscreants want us to fight back and kill innocent women and kids … which will lead to a civil war,' said one JNIM leader in another video. 'Yet our fight is not to defend a country or an ethnicity, but religion instead.' The videos were part a wider propaganda blitz by the group during Ramadan in March. Fighters in brightly colored headscarves were filmed in action at training camps, or reading from the Quran, guns propped in front of them. Since 2019, the group has killed more than 5,800 civilians in the region, according to ACLED; about 9,600 civilians have been killed by regional militaries and government-allied militias. In areas where JNIM has achieved strong control, violent attacks against civilians tend to decline, analysts say When Amadou Diallo, the 69-year-old Burkinabe refugee, learned that his daughters and their husbands had joined JNIM, he said he was so distraught that he stopped sleeping. But then, he said, he thought of his three cousins who had been killed by government militias. Village elders had told Fulani residents to leave, that they could no longer protect them. 'The alternative was death,' he said. 'At least now I hope they are safe.' Long-haul truck driver Yakubu Janwi travels across the region, a dangerous job that gives him a window into JNIM's expanding influence. The group controls many of the major roads in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, he said; truck owners have cut deals with the militants to ensure drivers are not stopped. During one dispute over payment, he said, JNIM members seized his truck full of tea and left him wandering in the bush. He was rescued by another driver about 24 hours later, he said, but it took his boss a full year to get the vehicle back. The trucking agreements are just one strand in a complex web of illicit commerce that JNIM uses to finance its insurgency. Members are involved in gold mining in Burkina Faso and Mali, according to experts and a former member of the group. Others engineer massive cattle-rustling schemes, including in Ghana, run kidnapping networks or are involved in smuggling drugs and motorcycles. Analysts say an increasingly large share of JNIM's funding comes from the taxes levied on communities in Mali and Burkina Faso. Solidifying its base of operations has allowed the group to devote more resources to attacks in Benin, said Andrew Lebovich, a research fellow with the Clingendael Institute. An ambush last month in the far north of the country killed 54 soldiers, the military said. Soldiers were caught off guard, according to a Benin military official: 'It is hard to track their movement,' the official said. JNIM is now actively recruiting in Benin, according to the official and experts. In the country's far north, recruiters now openly present themselves to local leaders, as they did when they first moved into parts of Burkina Faso and Mali. The group's weapons come largely from the government forces it has defeated, according to a recent report by Conflict Armament Research. There have been so many of those defeats that JNIM has been able to amass a formidable arsenal of machine guns, drones and antiaircraft weaponry — and has demonstrated it can deploy them to deadly effect. Last month, JNIM took control of Djibo, a regional capital in northern Burkina Faso — killing scores of soldiers and civilians and holding the city from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fighters posed for pictures on the streets and in government offices, including under a photo of Traoré, and vowed they were coming for the young president. At a recent U.S.-led military training in Tamale, in northern Ghana — a stand-alone Africom exercise spared from the Trump administration's regional cuts — soldiers from Ghana, Benin and Ivory Coast said the images from Djibo circulated in their WhatsApp groups. JNIM is now top of mind across the region. 'They're more violent, more organized and have more means,' said a military official from Ivory Coast. 'They wanted to spread Islam at first, but now it seems like they want to get all the way to the sea.' That theory was echoed by a U.S. official, who said the group sees its expansion as a kind of 'manifest destiny,' and appears to be pushing for a route to the Atlantic, which would dramatically increase the reach of its smuggling networks. Ghana, a nation of 33 million still seen as a bright spot of stability and democracy in West Africa, has not been attacked yet by JNIM. But officials from neighboring countries have told their Ghanaian counterparts to be on guard. Already, regional officials and experts said, JNIM is using Ghana to restock its supplies and rest its fighters after assaults in Burkina Faso. Along the countries' shared border, which is marked by narrow, sandy footpaths and potholed roads, a group of Ghanaian immigration officers are doing their best to patrol but said they need more resources. Sixteen officers are tasked with guarding the 10-mile border. They can often hear the echo of gunshots on the other side. 'Burkinabes cross every day, and they tell us what is happening there,' said Gabriel Afful, one of the officers. Was he nervous about the future? Afful simply nodded. Blanco Ramos reported from Madrid. Ayamga Bawa Fatawu and Ahmed Jeeri contributed to this report.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Fisherman caught in diplomatic row with France breaks silence
A British fishing skipper whose boat was seized by the French has accused them of threatening his livelihood. Phil Parker said the French maritime authorities had seized 200 whelk pots and robbed him of £6,000 of fishing income by impounding the Lady T for six days before releasing it for a bond of €30,000 (£25,200). He also faces a fine of €45,000 (£38,000) on top of the bond if found guilty by a French court of 'non-authorised fishing in French waters' in a boat from outside the EU. Speaking publicly about the incident for the first time, Mr Parker told The Telegraph that he intended to fight the case to the bitter end, claiming he had been only 288 metres into EU waters when his boat was stopped by the French. He has the backing of British fishing industry leaders, who have accused the Labour Government of selling out the British fleet, and said the treatment of the Lady T showed the French were not interested in partnership. The Lady T, based in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was intercepted by the Pluvier, a French navy ship, on May 22 for 'non-authorised fishing in French waters'. Four days later, the vessel, which was accused of fishing for whelks without an external waters licence, was allowed to return to Britain following the payment of the bond. Mr Parker said that he failed to realise that his boat's licence to fish in the waters where he was stopped had not been renewed when he set sail. But he said the French maritime authorities behaved vindictively by impounding his boat rather than letting him off with a warning. He said: 'I was bang in the middle of the English Channel. Thirty miles from the English coast and 28.9 miles from the French coast. But they stopped me and jumped on board, even though I was only 288 metres inside the 30-mile EU waters line. 'For some reason, the boat's licence to be in those waters had not been reissued, as it is automatically every year, so they said I was fishing illegally. 'I could understand it if I had been inside their 12-mile French waters limit, but it was in the middle of the English Channel. All I needed to be there legally was a bit of paper I thought we had.' The seizure of the Lady T came just days after Sir Keir Starmer granted EU fishermen access to British waters for another 12 years in a deal critics fear will damage the industry. One industry source said: 'Nobody across the fishing fleet sees any fairness in the deal. It's terrible news for the whole of the industry. We are less protected than they [the French] are under the new deal. And then they go and seize a boat like The Lady T. 'Yes, the boat should have had the right paperwork, but the French should have exercised some discretion, especially as it came just after the new deal was agreed. They should just have had some stern words with the skipper and sent him on his way, not seize the boat. 'You'd have thought the French, especially the French government, would have handled it differently given the circumstances of the deal. But that's not how the French seem to do things.' After being seized, the Lady T was taken to Boulogne, where it was held for six days. Its crew stayed in local accommodation, but Mr Parker remained with the boat, with no toilet or shower, to ensure its safety. 'I couldn't just leave the boat. Eventually, after six days, they got my €30,000 deposit and I got to sail back. I could still get fined on top of that, which I'm not very happy about,' he said. Mr Parker claims the French maritime authorities appear determined to put him and other fishermen like him out of business. 'It's not nice having this prosecution hanging over me,' he said. 'But I'm going to fight this.' Despite the uncertainty Mr Parker, who has a wife and six children, has no choice but to continue fishing, this time with the external waters licence he should have had when his boat was seized. This has now been issued, allowing him to set sail once again. But his task has not been made any easier by the seizure of 200 of his 800 whelk pots, which he will have to replace. These were taken despite Mr Philips maintaining that when his boat was stopped he only had a small number of whelks from the EU side of the Channel in them. 'I've been fishing for 14 years and I would never break the law, but for some reason that bit of paper, the licence we needed, hadn't come, so technically I was in the wrong,' he said. 'I thought I was simply doing the job I've done for years. You'd have thought they could have been a bit more lenient with me.' Following the seizure of the Lady T, Olivier Lepretre, the chairman of the regional fishing committee in northern France, suggested it had been intercepted in a tit-for-tat spat. The skipper and owner of Pierre D'Ambre, a French-registered vessel, were fined £40,000 at Newcastle magistrates' court in April after pleading guilty to bottom-trawling in a prohibited area of the offshore Brighton marine conservation zone. Mr Lepretre said last week: 'Until now, the French government has always favoured discussions to repression, as opposed to the British government which always imposes rules that are more and more restrictive, and more and more counterproductive for French fishermen. 'There comes a moment when you have to say: stop.' Another French official said at the time that the Lady T was 'looking for it' after entering exclusive French waters. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
New York Times
2 days ago
- New York Times
Florida Fisherman Is Charged in Shark Stabbing
A charter fisherman in Florida was charged with animal cruelty after a video showed him stabbing a shark multiple times, according to the authorities. The fisherman, Zane P. Garrett, 26, of Stock Island in the Florida Keys, was arrested by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Thursday and charged with the felony count. Law enforcement officials received tips on May 23 about a man 'repeatedly stabbing a shark on a fishing line before cutting the line and releasing the animal,' the agency said in a statement. It was unclear if the shark survived. A video, which has since been widely circulated, shows a man stabbing the shark with a knife and includes a caption that reads 'bud broke my rod.' Conservation agents located Mr. Garrett's boat in Key West and identified him as the charter captain on the day of the attack. He later admitted to the stabbing. It was not immediately clear what potential penalties Mr. Garrett might face. 'The careless cruelty displayed in this video is unacceptable,' said Maj. Alberto Maza, the South B regional commander of the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. 'I'm proud of the public for reporting this senseless act and our officers' work in identifying the subject and holding him accountable.' According to WPLG Local 10 in Miami, an arrest warrant stated that Mr. Zane attacked the shark because it had stolen his fish. Mr. Zane declined to comment when reached by phone on Friday. According to his website, Mr. Zane operates Second Nature Charters in Key West, with prices starting at $900 for four hours of tarpon fishing. The charter boat is a 37-foot Torres sport fishing vessel that can accommodate up to six passengers. 'With Captain Zane at the helm, every fishing excursion becomes an unforgettable journey filled with camaraderie, laughter, and, most importantly, epic catches that will be cherished for a lifetime,' according to the site. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission said that sharks have been known to take fish off a line or bite boat motors, 'an unfortunate side effect of healthy and sustainable shark populations.' The commission's advice: Move to another area away from shark activity. In May, another Florida charter fisherman was sentenced to 30 days for shooting and poisoning dolphins from his boat, including doing so once in front of two school-aged children. The captain was frustrated with the dolphins for stealing his catch, investigators said at the time.
