KAIS SAIED’S RACIST STATEMENT ON SUB-SAHARAN MIGRANTS: Will firefighter Embalo be able to put out the fire?

At the end of a meeting he had on March 8 at the Carthage Palace with his Tunisian counterpart, the Bissau-Guinean President, Umaro Cissoco Embalo, who is also current President of the Economic Community of African States of the West (ECOWAS), declared that the remarks of his host for a day, on sub-Saharan migrants, had been “misinterpreted”. As a reminder, on February 21, the Tunisian head of state made remarks of rare virulence on the illegal migration of sub-Saharan nationals. A phenomenon that represents, in his eyes, a danger for Tunisia, hence his insistence on “the need to put an end to it quickly”. Remarks which were all the more shocking since the university ascetic who became president went so far as to qualify this clandestine immigration of sub-Saharan migrants, “a criminal enterprise hatched at the dawn of this century to change the demographic composition of the Tunisia”, assimilating it to “a desire to make Tunisia only an African country and not a member of the Arab and Islamic world”.

The tenant of the Carthage palace seems to have engaged in a catch-up operation

The consequence of these presidential remarks is that the day following this declaration, the sub-Saharan community was the object, in Tunisia, of a veritable hunt which quickly turned into a nightmare for the sub-Saharan nationals who found themselves trapped in numerous abuses, ranging from arbitrary arrests and other racial profiling checks, physical assaults and other home ransacks. This shows the extent of the disaster of these “racist and hateful” remarks denounced by human rights organizations in Tunisia itself, and of which one can wonder if “Robocop”, to evoke one of the nicknames of the Tunisian president, measured the entire range before pronouncing them. One can doubt it. All the more so since no doubt informed by the disastrous consequences of his remarks, which do not fail to tarnish the image of his country in passing, the tenant of the Carthage palace seems to have embarked on a catch-up operation which does not don’t say his name. In any case, this is what one is led to believe, in view of the recent government measures taken in favor of sub-Saharan migrants to “improve the situation of foreigners in Tunisia and facilitate the procedures” for regularizing their situation. And this, in addition to the creation of a toll-free number for “residents of brotherly African countries”, to “report any violation once morest them”. If these acts are intended as an awareness of the need to reframe things and rectify the situation, that is to the credit of the Tunisian authorities. Still, as the saying goes, “water poured out can no longer be picked up”. This is why the exit of President Umaro Cissoco Embalo aimed at attenuating the remarks of his Tunisian counterpart, does not lack audacity, in the will of the current president of ECOWAS, to fly to the aid… of soldier Saied.

The task promises to be rather bold for the Bissau-Guinean president

Which president is not far from alienating, if he has not already done so, many of his West African peers who, faced with the situation, had to resolve to repatriate some of their compatriots. This is the case of Guinea, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire, which have already responded to distress calls from their nationals by organizing return-to-home operations. The question that then arises is whether firefighter Embalo will be able to put out the fire of the ravages of the Tunisian president’s “racist” remarks, by playing the card of their misinterpretation. The question is all the more justified since not only does the mission seem at the very least delicate for the president of this Portuguese-speaking country in a predominantly French-speaking West Africa. But also Embolo is not in the head of Kais Saied and the latter may change his speech today by saying “African and proud of it”, we will always ask ourselves questions regarding the sincerity of such remarks which are far from beating any culpe. Especially since this comes in a context where the World Bank has announced the suspension of its cooperation with Tunisia following the statements of President Saied. And then there are these iterative calls for a boycott of Tunisian products in response to the degrading and humiliating treatment suffered by sub-Saharan nationals, which are becoming more and more pressing in many countries south of the Sahara. All things that have something to disturb the sleep of the tenant of the Palace of Carthage. This means that the task promises to be rather daring for the Bissau-Guinean president. Because, given the turn of events, everything suggests that “Robocop” has already shot himself. Under these conditions, one wonders what President Embalo was looking for in a case that looks like a real hassle.

” The country ”