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From our correspondent in Dakar: – Three weeks after Kaïs Said’s incendiary remarks on sub-Saharan immigrants and the subsequent racist violence, outrage continues in Senegal. Various associations and civil society organizations demand a public apology from the Tunisian president. Calls for a boycott of Tunisian products have also been made on social media.
“The presence of hordes of clandestine immigrants in Tunisia, a source of violence, crime and unacceptable acts, must be brought to an end quickly.” Kaïs Said’s controversial statements, made on February 21, have led to dismissals, assaults and violent expulsions of sub-Saharan immigrants in Tunisia. A situation that is fueling anger in Senegal.
Fifteen associations have come together in a “collective of migration organizations and actors in Senegal” to demand sanctions from the international community after the red line crossed by Said.
“The collective recommends that the Tunisian president take a step back, withdraw his statements, apologize to the entire African community and commit to respecting and ensuring that the rights of the African populations in their territory are respected,” the collective’s statement demands.
The Senegalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has created a crisis cell. Unlike the Ivory Coast and Guinea, which have already organized flights to repatriate their nationals who wish to return home, Dakar has been more restrained in its reaction: a registry has been opened to “register our nationals who wish to return to Senegal “, according to the Ministry, which stated on March 5 that “no incident involving a compatriot in Tunisia has been recorded.”
a prohibited demonstration
The timid attempt at mediation by Umaro Sissoco Embaló, head of state of Guinea-Bissau and current president of ECOWAS, did not find favor with the Senegalese. The leader went to Tunisia to calm things down. “We are all Africans. You yourself are African, whatever the color of your skin… We are all brothers,” he said, stating that the Tunisian president’s words had been misinterpreted.
Ahmadou Bamba Fall, president of the Pueblo del Migrante association and member of the collective of migration actors in Senegal, judged this approach “very weak”. “At a time when the World Bank has sanctioned Tunisia, when Tunisian associations have demonstrated against their president, we expected more firmness from ECOWAS. We expected Embaló to denounce Kaïs Said’s comments and ask him to withdraw them , and to ask the Tunisians to put an end to their actions against the sub-Saharans,” he explains.
The collective and other civil society organizations such as the Front for a Popular and Pan-African Anti-Imperialist Revolution (Frapp), a Senegalese sovereignty movement, hoped to make their voices heard during a demonstration outside the Tunisian embassy in Dakar on March 3, and through the symbolic delivery of a protest letter to the ambassador. However, the demonstration was prohibited by the Senegalese authorities and 19 protesters were arrested and released 24 hours later.
Call for a boycott of products and services
Guy Marius Sagna, an opposition MP and Frapp’s administrative secretary, was among the protesters. They want to start a boycott of products from Tunisia.
“We have launched a campaign to boycott all Tunisian products, but also all Tunisian services, from Tunisair to Jadida oil brand food products. We ask all Senegalese and all Africans here or in the diaspora to boycott these products and services”, declared the deputy.
The protest letter was finally submitted on Thursday, March 9. The letter denounced “the use of African Blacks as scapegoats for the social crisis in Tunisia.”
On Saturday, March 11, another demonstration against the Tunisian president and the violence suffered by black migrants was planned in the African Remembrance square in Dakar. However, the prefect decided to ban it, alleging “risks of disturbing public order” and “obstructing the free movement of people and their goods”. Protesters remain reluctant to challenge the ban.
Much to the chagrin of Habib Bourguiba
Despite its inflexibility in the face of Kaïs Said’s statements, the collective remains firm. Its members repeat over and over again that their antagonism is not directed against the Tunisian people, but against their president, as well as against Tunisians who have committed acts of violence against sub-Saharan immigrants. Thus, they thanked the demonstration on February 25 in Tunis, in which Tunisian civil society denounced the statements of its president.
Senegal and Tunisia have maintained close relations in the past, especially after independence. The father of the Tunisian nation, Habib Bourguiba, was adored by Senegalese for his stance in favor of a “free Africa”, according to historians interviewed by France 24. A large avenue in Dakar is named after him.
This article was adapted from its original in French
