674 African migrants caught by Spanish police

MADRID, Spain — Spanish police caught more than 670 Africans trying to reach the Canary Islands in overcrowded boats that set out from Mauritania, a record for a single day, officials said Sunday. At least eight boats carrying 674 people reached the islands in the space of 24 hours Saturday, Civil Guard officials said. More than 20,000 Africans have been intercepted so far this year, and the number for August alone exceeds that for all of 2005, Spain says. Canary Island officials have described the situation as an international emergency and have asked the European Union, the United Nations and the international community to intervene. Overwhelmed by a flood of destitute migrants this summer, the government announced Friday it was organizing a ministerial-level conference of southern European countries to seek a joint response to the crisis. Spain is inviting interior and defense ministers from eight countries to the meeting later this month in Madrid. The ministers will discuss coastal surveillance, rescue operations and repatriation, and have a proposal ready for a summit of European Union leaders in December. France, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, and Slovenia have been invited to attend. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega traveled to Brussels last week to press EU officials for more help and express Spanish frustration with an EU plan to monitor African waters from the air and sea, which was approved in May and has yet to begin in earnest. - AP