“Frontex has agreed with Cape Verdean authorities to station aircraft to
detect boats heading for the Canary Islands. Agreements with other
governments in West Africa had failed.”
Frontex launches aerial surveillance in West Africa – its fundamental
rights officer raises concerns -15. November 2025
*Frontex has agreed with Cape Verdean authorities to station aircraft to
detect boats heading for the Canary Islands. Agreements with other
governments in West Africa had failed.*
The EU border agency Frontex announced on Friday that it will in future
station aircraft for aerial surveillance in the Atlantic on Cape Verde. For
the start of the mission, Frontex Director Hans Leijtens travelled to the
island nation’s capital Praia this week, where he met with the state
minister, the ministers of defence and interior and other senior government
officials.
The agreement, negotiated for months
aims to improve EU migration control in West Africa. The aircraft,
chartered from private companies and equipped with surveillance technology,
will monitor the search and rescue regions of Senegal, Mauritania and
Gambia for boats carrying refugees heading towards the Canary Islands, a
Spanish territory. When sightings occur, crews hired by Frontex inform the
responsible authorities in West Africa, who are expected to intercept
people and bring them back. Frontex has been practising a comparable
pullback mechanism with Libya’s coast guard since 2017
.
The flights from Praia are carried out, according to information obtained
by “nd”, with a twin-engine Beechcraft aircraft bearing the registration
2-WKTJ https://globe.airplanes.live/?icao=43ed4b, which is registered to
the British company DEA – the same firm that also flies for Frontex’s
pullback regime with Libya.
Agreement with Senegal and Mauritania failed
It is the first such Frontex deployment in an African country. Cape Verde’s
National Police, Coast Guard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
Ministry of Defence took part in the talks on the technical implementation.
Authorities from Portugal were also involved; the two states have
cooperated closely on maritime security since Cape Verde gained
independence. The agency also planned consultations with Spanish
authorities, a Frontex spokesperson told “nd”.
The Cape Verde mission fills a gap left by failed negotiations
with
Senegal and Mauritania. Frontex had originally sought status agreements
with both countries to allow the agency to station personnel or equipment
in their territorial waters or on land. Despite earlier positive signals,
both governments refused to enter into such talks. Flights from Praia will
therefore take place in international waters outside the twelve-mile zones
of Senegal, Mauritania and Gambia.
Operations could also occur in Cape Verdean waters, as migrant boats
repeatedly drift into the country’s maritime zone due to failed crossings
or lack of fuel. According to Frontex
https://prd.frontex.europa.eu/?form-fields%5Bdocument-tag%5D%5B0%5D=2597,
Cape Verdean authorities have also registered cases in which people
travelled from Senegal to the islands on sailboats or yachts and then
continued their journey to Europe.
Frontex also intends to expand its “network of liaison officers” in third
countries to include the region. The network currently consists of six
offices in Ankara, Belgrade, Tirana, Moldova, Islamabad and Dakar, with
another planned in Morocco. The future “Rabat cluster” is expected to
support aerial surveillance flights from Cape Verde.
Dissent over legal basis
Frontex intends to base its aerial operations in Cape Verde on a working
arrangement from 2011, although this agreement covers only strategic
cooperation, not the stationing of Frontex assets. As “nd” learned, the
agency had negotiated with the government in Praia about renewing the
arrangement, which was originally planned for completion in 2025. This
renewal apparently did not materialise.
Frontex appears to take the position that no renewal is required for
deploying aircraft or drones from Cape Verde. “Any such activities would be
carried out together with our Cabo Verdean partners under the existing
Working Arrangement signed in 2011, which forms the basis for our
cooperation,” a spokesperson told “nd”.
As in Libya, Frontex will not station its own personnel on Cape Verde. The
reconnaissance services will again be contracted from private firms. Videos
they record at sea are streamed in real time to Frontex headquarters in
Warsaw.
Frontex fundamental rights officer is critical
The Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer, Jonas Grimheden, has examined the
plans and expressed concerns. In May, he issued an opinion on Frontex’
“Multipurpose Aerial Aurveillance” (MAS) on the West African route.
According to information seen by “nd”, it explicitly concerned operations
in the search and rescue regions of Cape Verde, Senegal and Mauritania,
located in international waters outside the twelve-mile zones.
The aircraft or drones commissioned by Frontex are to pass information on
detected migrant boats to the search and rescue authorities of the relevant
states. There are, however, reports of shortcomings in human rights
protection in Mauritania and Senegal. Effective safeguards therefore need
to be in place before the service begins, Grimheden believes, according to
an internal communication viewed by “nd”. His office had called for an
action plan addressing these issues, emphasising in particular the
principle of non-refoulement.
Grimheden did not want to comment publicly on his assessment: “Thanks for
your interest in my views on this. This is related to an ongoing process,
so I prefer not to comment on that externally,” he wrote last week to “nd”.
Drastic increase and decrease on Atlantic route
From 2020, numbers on the West Atlantic route increased sharply, according
to Pro Asyl
https://www.proasyl.de/news/el-hierro-trotz-hoher-ankunftszahlen-setzt-die-insel-auf-menschlichkeit/:
from under 3,000 people in 2019 to more than 23,000 in 2020, over 40,000 in
2023 and 46,000 in 2024. Explanations include conditions in countries of
origin – such as Senegal, where international fleets deplete fishing
grounds and political conflicts persist – as well as intensified migration
control on other African routes.
Spain, as the nearest neighbouring state, also cooperates closely
with
countries in the region on migration control. According to Interior
Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, strengthened cooperation with Senegal
has reduced arrivals from its coast by more than 90 percent this year.
Spain has 40 officers stationed in Senegal who patrol with the Gendarmerie
and National Police on land, at sea and on rivers, supported by vessels, a
helicopter and surveillance aircraft.
The EU is investing heavily in maritime migration control
https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/countries/mauritania_en in
West Africa. Mauritania received €20 million this year for two new naval
vessels for patrols between the country and the Canary Islands. In 2024,
the EU had already paid €15 million to combat “illegal activities at sea”.
Mauritania
https://www.elsaltodiario.com/fronteras/gobierno-espana-abre-dos-carceles-migrantes-mauritania
has set up two reception centres
https://www.elsaltodiario.com/fronteras/gobierno-espana-abre-dos-carceles-migrantes-mauritania
for
intercepted migrants from land an sea routes with Spanish funds and the EU
Emergency Trust Fund. According to a source involved in their
establishment, they are “obviously detention centres”. People intercepted
with the help of Frontex aerial surveillance from Cape Verde would likely
end up there as well.
*Published **in German in *„nd“
.
*Image: Frontex delegation in Cape Verde. The planned cooperation is
intended to enable flights off Senegal, Mauritania and Gambia.*