After the Tunisian president called for tougher measures against irregular immigration, sub-Saharan Africans (countries on the African continent that do not border the Mediterranean Sea) have been subjected to attacks, evictions and dismissals, regardless of whether they are legal or illegal. Faced with attacks and persecution, these migrants must decide whether to live in fear in Tunisia or return to their home countries.
Tunisian President Kaïs Said demanded “urgent measures” against illegal immigration on February 21. In his speech, he held sub-Saharan African “hordes of migrant immigrants” responsible for “violence, crimes and unacceptable acts.”
In addition, he rearranged the ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory (which argues that there is a plan to replace the white and Christian European population through African and Muslim immigration), denouncing a “criminal enterprise” that seeks to “change the demographic composition of Tunisia” to make it an “only African” country, altering its “Arab and Muslim” character.
His speech has generated racist and xenophobic reactions. For example, “Patrick” (whose real name is being withheld for safety) is a 29-year-old Congolese student who came to Tunisia on a six-month permit to study international business; and he confessed to France 24 that he has not dared to leave his house for two weeks for fear of attacks: “We only went out near the house to buy bread, juice in small stores. That’s all.”
The questions
This and other similar statements were taken into account by various NGOs, the African Union and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, who question the “xenophobic, outrageous and humiliating discourse against the sub-Saharan immigrant community”.
According to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), more than 300 sub-Saharan migrants have been arrested in recent weeks. In addition, the organization has documented evictions without prior notice, as well as violent attacks, including with a knife that, according to reports, received a delayed response from the Police.
In just one day, on February 25, several events took place: in the port city of Sfax, four sub-Saharan migrants were stabbed to death, and in the country’s capital, four Ivorian students were attacked as they left their university hostel, as well as a Gabonese woman was attacked when she was leaving her house, according to a report from the radio station R.F.I..
Another case is Mohamed Kony, a 32-year-old Malian construction worker, who was fired and evicted from his apartment. Without legal residence, he fears being attacked, as has happened to several of his friends. “I’m confused and worried. I can’t believe we’re a problem here,” he told Reuters.
Repatriation, another alternative
Faced with the growing wave of attacks and pressure from the authorities, one option for sub-Saharan irregular immigrants is to request repatriation to their countries of origin.
The first such flight since Said’s speech occurred on March 1, when a group of 50 Guineans returned to Conakry. “It’s a wave of hate that has no reason,” one of them told the AFP agency. And this Saturday, March 4, the Ivory Coast and Mali organized special flights to allow the return of 295 of their citizens.
The wave continues to grow. The Ivorian ambassador Ibrahim Sy Savane explained that some 1,100 Ivorians (of the 7,000 estimated to live in Tunisia) have requested repatriation.
Dozens of them crowded outside the diplomatic headquarters in recent days and some denounced the attacks of which they were victims. “After the president’s speech, they attacked us. We are afraid. They kicked us out of the house,” Berry Dialy Stephan told Reuters.
Foufana Abou commented that his neighbors had insulted and assaulted him. “They threw stones and pieces of wood at us. Why? We are all Africans!” he claimed.
Racist speeches, the last element of Said’s authoritarian drift
Kaïs Said’s critics say the rhetoric against illegal sub-Saharan immigration is yet another feature of the Tunisian president’s authoritarian turn, who has accused political opponents of conspiring against the country, in light of a wave of arrests of his critics.
Once a popular leader for his anti-corruption and anti-political elite discourse, Said has been granted absolute powers since July 2021, when he ordered the dissolution of the government, the suspension of Parliament and began to rule by decree, as part of an alleged plan towards a “new democracy”.
However, the consecration of a new Constitution in a disputed referendum at the end of 2022 and the very low turnout in the parliamentary elections of recent January have called into question the real popular support for the president.
Appealing to the alleged complicity of his opponents with foreign agents or a fictitious “criminal enterprise” through irregular immigration are part of a campaign to “create an imaginary enemy to distract Tunisians from their basic problems,” denounced Ramadan Ben Amor, spokesman from Ftdes, to Reuters.
The opening to allow the entry of travelers from various African countries without a visa, having as a counterpart the difficulty in obtaining a residence permit, and the contrast with the restrictions of its neighbor Algeria, as well as its strategic position on the migratory route to Europe due to the Mediterranean, have turned Tunisia into a hot spot for irregular immigration.
The Tunisian authorities estimate that there are some 21,000 undocumented immigrants in the country, a figure that for Ftdes can rise to 50,000, in any case the figure is derisory and is far from changing the demographic composition of a country with 12 million inhabitants.
With Reuters, AFP, R.F.I. and the French version of France 24
