The Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez will visit Gambia to discuss the ongoing migrant crisis affecting his country. 

Sanchez will meet with President Adama Barrow and other government officials in State House next week. 

The prime minister’s visit to the Gambia is part of a three day visit to West Africa from August 27 to 29. 

The other countries Sanchez will visit include Senegal and Mauritania as he seeks to stem the tide of illegal migration to Spain. 

Latest reports show the number of migrants reaching the Canary Islands in Spain more than doubled in the first half of this year. 

Over 22,000 migrants reached Spain by boats in the period to August 15, up from 9,864 in the same period a year earlier, the Spanish interior ministry numbers show.

Many of the illegal migrants arriving by boats are from the Gambia and other countries in West Africa seeking greener pastures in Europe. 

The perilous journey through the Atlantic Ocean locally known as the ‘Backway’ has taken the lives of thousands of desperate migrants. 

Reporting by MM Touray