“We have no choice”: migrants unafraid of British threat to return ships to France

CALAIS, France, September 10 (Reuters) – Mustafa Suleiman, 21, is determined to arrive in Britain and will not be deterred by London’s threats to intercept ships carrying illegal migrants to the Channel and return them in France.

Suleiman, who fled the Sudanese region of Darfur in 2019, has attempted to make the perilous journey across some of the world’s busiest waterways twice in the past year. Both times, he was frustrated by French police before leaving the beach.

“We will try to try it until the last day of our lives,” Suleiman told Reuters at a camp in a wasteland on the outskirts of Calais.

Although French police are preventing more crossings than in previous years, they have only partially halted the flow. Migrants are too numerous, the coast is too long, and smugglers are too good to dodge security. Read more

Britain is irritated by the numbers crossing it and accuses France of not doing enough to secure its borders.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson handed over Britain’s divorce from the European Union with the promise of “regaining control” of the borders and this week his Conservative government approved plans to turn migrant yachts upside down in half a chain. Read more

France said it deserved better than this “positioning.” Charities said the plans could violate maritime laws.

Suleiman said he would be willing to launch himself into the open sea if there was ever a British patrol between him and the coasts of the United Kingdom.

“(Britain) is my only solution,” he said in a hesitant English.

“NO CHOICE”

In front of the main hospital in Calais, a stench of urine hung in the air and dirty tissue paper scattered along the narrow sandy paths that twisted through the scrub. The luckiest migrants had tents, others rested in the open on sheets of plastic.

Every day, aid groups distribute food and local authorities provide water taps for the hundreds of migrants who gather at the site.

Sixteen-year-old Afghan Ali Husseini only arrived in the northern port city a day earlier after a several-week trip from his home province of Uruzgan.

Husseini said he fled on foot and by car across the Iranian border as the Taliban crossed his homeland. His parents had urged him to leave, but he could not afford to take his two younger brothers.

“I try to find a new country, a new life without war,” the teenager said. “Britain is my final destination. It’s a good country. I can finish my training and be safe.”

Husseini had already heard stories of the dangerous crossing of overloaded inflatable boats.

“We have no choice. I have to do it,” he said.

Some British lawmakers have said British investment tactics will never be used because they would put immigrants in danger of drowning.

The numbers trying to reach Britain with small boats – some 13,000 so far in 2021 – are slim compared to migratory flows to countries such as Lebanon and Turkey, which are home to millions of refugees. The International Organization for Migration states that 40,830 migrants have landed by sea in Italy this year since September 2 and about 21,000 in Spain.

The issue has become a clear call to Johnson party politicians. But for many migrants, the British stance hurts.

“It’s inhumane,” said a second Sudanese who gave his name as Adam A. “They want to push us into the water.”

Reports by Richard Lough and Forrest Crellin Edited by Raissa Kasolowsky

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