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19 May 2009 Algiers - Algeria's coast guard
arrested 18 would-be emigrants overnight, taking the
number picked up in two weeks to more than 100, the
APS news agency reported on Tuesday.
A patrol intercepted the migrants in a ramshackle boat
off the Mediterranean coastal city of Annaba, APS
said, quoting coast guard commanders. The group of
migrants, aged between 19 and 37, was trying to leave
Africa to enter Europe illegally.
On Monday, coast guards picked up 59 people in two
groups, one at Oran, 430km west of Algiers and the
other off Ghazouet near Tlemcen on the far northwest
coast.
Last week, 36 clandestine migrants were rescued in
three operations while in trouble at sea off Annaba,
600km east of Algiers.
On May 10, one of those groups, comprising 18
people trying to reach Sardinia, ran out of fuel and
they were drifting when the coast guard vessel found
them. Eighteen others were foundering on a boat in
high seas.
The north African country is a hub for
poverty-stricken people from the sub-Saharan region,
as well as Algeria itself, seeking to sail across the
Mediterranean and reach Europe in hope of a better
life.
In Algeria, they are known as the "harraga" and are
often youths with little hope of local employment, who
set sail in small boats that they had hidden away with
a small stock of provisions on remote beaches.
EsinIslam.Com
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