MADRID — Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero urged wealthy nations Thursday to respect their pledges to help fight poverty in Africa after at least 15 migrants, including nine children, died at sea while trying to reach Spain.
"We are in an alarming situation. Either we help Africa to fight against extreme poverty, or our state of solidarity, our social state, will be in danger," he said in Athens where he is on an official visit.
He described the deaths as "an intolerable tragedy" and called on developing countries to "assume their responsibilities" by contributing to development aid and guaranteeing that the global food crisis does not worsen world hunger.
Rescue teams intercepted overnight a small crowded boat with 33 migrants and the body of a woman on board some 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Almeria, a local police spokesman told AFP.
The bodies of the at least 14 others who died of hunger, thirst or exposure during the crossing, including nine children between the ages of one and four, "had been thrown overboard by their travelling companions," he said.
The survivors, who public radio RNE said included three pregnant women and a baby, were all severely weakened after their journey.
It was the second such incident in a week.
Fourteen migrants from Nigeria went missing and are feared dead after their boat capsized on Monday off the southern coast of the southern Spanish town of Motril just as it was being aided by a rescue ship which managed to save 23 others.
"As long as people are desperate and cannot feed their children they will try to reach Europe," Zapatero said, adding his socialist government would fulfill a pledge to boost development aid despite an economic slowdown.
"It is unacceptable that as extreme poverty increases we see development aid fall ... the West has the resources and the capacity to help extreme poverty disappear," he said.
In September 2007 Zapatero promised to raise the amount of development aid which Spain gives out from the equivalent of 0.5 percent of gross domestic product to 0.7 percent by 2012.
His government in January approved 5.5 billion euros (8.6 billion dollars) in international development aid for 2008, a 28.5 percent increase over last year and its highest-ever amount.
The world's richest nations agreed to provide 0.7 percent of their output in development aid by 2015 as part of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, a series of targets aimed at reducing poverty and living standards around the globe.
Only five nations have do far met or surpassed the target: Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
A total of 921 would-be illegal immigrants died at sea trying to reach Spain in 2007, according to a tally by the Organisation for Human Rights in Andalusia (APDH-A), a Spanish humanitarian group.
Of these, 732 perished close to the Atlantic coast of north Africa at the start of their journey and 189 near the coasts of Spain, it said.
The majority, 629, were from sub-Saharan Africa, 287 were from north Africa and five were Asians.
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