FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)
Fabakary B. Ceesay
29 August 2007
One hundred and fifty eight (158) Gambian youths who have risked their lives and traversed across the Atlantic Ocean in a local makeshift boat with the hope of reaching the Spanish Island of Canary, have found themselves at the Cape Verde Islands.
Three youths, who spoke to this reporter on the condition of anonymity, said they boarded a boat at one of the Coastal Villages in Kombo with ten Ghanaians as their captains, and navigators. They said they have travelled for nine days and nights without spotting their proposed destination of Canary Island. They explained that the captain who commanded the boat stirred the boat to an unknown destination which took them to Cape Verde. They asserted that they were manhandled by the Cape Verdean Security Agents. The trio complained that they were detained in a tiny police cell. They said they were kept in that cell for almost two weeks and little food was given to them. They said they were later transferred to praia, where they were kept at a military barrack. According to the three returnees, they spent one month and three days in detention in Cape Verde. They indicated that they were flown back home Via Senegal on Wednesday 22 August. They added that they were screened by the Immigration personnel at the airport upon their arrival. They said the majority of them are still in detention in Cape Verde. They said only ten of them are flown back together and that the rest remain in Cape Verde.
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