Minister of Technical Education and Vocational Training Diame Signate of Senegal

Lying listlessly on a canvas bed in the newly opened deportation center - the most visible symbol of the much- publicized Spanish-Mauritanian cooperation - Diame Signate was ruing his luck at being caught in the sweep.

Slumped on a canvas bed in the deportation centre in Nouadhibou, 25-year-old Diame Signate is proof of the lengths to which people are prepared to go.