Tunisia – Tunisian President Kais Saied discussed with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, yesterday, Thursday, the issue of irregular migration that is troubling Europe, and the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip for the seventh month in a row.
This came during a phone call between Saied and Macron, according to a statement by the Tunisian presidency, which did not clarify who initiated the call.
The Tunisian presidency said that the two leaders’ conversation touched on “the waves of illegal immigration (to Europe), which are worsening day following day.”
In this regard, Saeed considered that “what is happening today in Tunisia with the influx of a number of irregular migrants from sub-Saharan Africa (to head to Europe) is unnatural.”
He stressed that “efforts must be combined to dismantle the criminal networks behind these situations, which are networks that traffic in people and their organs.”
He added that these networks “are lavishing money on these irregular immigrants whose poverty and misery were not caused by Tunisia, and Tunisia does not accept them settling there, which is unacceptable as well as suspicious.”
Tunisia has been witnessing a remarkable escalation in the pace of irregular migration to Europe, especially towards the coast of Italy, due to the repercussions of the economic and political crises in the country and other African countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa.
The Tunisian authorities announce on a weekly basis thwarting attempts to migrate to the coasts of Europe, and arresting hundreds of migrants, from Tunisia or other African countries.
In September 2023, the European Commission announced the allocation of aid to Tunisia worth 127 million euros, which falls within the terms of the memorandum of understanding signed between Tunisia and the European Union, part of which is to reduce the influx of irregular migrants.
According to the Tunisian presidency, Saied and Macron also discussed, during the phone call, “the war of extermination to which the Palestinian people are being subjected in Gaza (at the hands of the Israeli army) and the need to immediately stop this war.”
Saeed pointed out that “today the humanitarian community is ahead of the international community,” considering that “international legitimacy is no longer legitimate for humanity,” referring to the international failure to stop the war on Gaza.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that has left tens of thousands of civilian casualties, most of them children and women, and massive destruction and famine that have claimed the lives of children and the elderly, according to Palestinian and UN data.
Israel continues the war despite the issuance of a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, as well as despite Tel Aviv appearing before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing crimes of “genocide.”
Anatolia
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2024-04-27 04:04:09