Tunisian president advocates “urgent measures” against sub-Saharan immigration

Published on : 21/02/2023 – 23:21

During a meeting on Tuesday of the National Security Council, Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed spoke very harshly regarding “hordes of illegal migrants” from sub-Saharan Africa, whose presence is, according to him, a source of ” violence, crimes and unacceptable acts”, insisting on “the need to quickly end” this immigration.

Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed on Tuesday (February 21st) advocated “urgent measures” once morest the illegal immigration of sub-Saharan Africans to his country, saying that their presence was a source of “violence and crimes”.

Kaïs Saïed chaired a meeting of the National Security Council “devoted to the urgent measures that must be taken to deal with the arrival in Tunisia of a large number of illegal migrants from sub-Saharan Africa”, according to a press release from the presidency.

During this meeting, Kaïs Saïed spoke extremely harshly regarding the arrival of “hordes of illegal migrants” whose presence in Tunisia is, according to him, a source of “violence, crimes and unacceptable acts”, insisting on “the need to quickly put an end to this immigration.

He further maintained that this illegal immigration was part of a “criminal enterprise hatched at the dawn of this century to change the demographic composition of Tunisia”, in order to transform it into an “African only” country and blur its character ” Arab-Muslim”.

He called on the authorities to act “at all levels, diplomatic, security and military” to deal with this immigration and “strict application of the law on the status of foreigners in Tunisia and on the illegal crossing of borders”. “Those who are behind this phenomenon are trafficking in human beings while claiming to defend human rights,” he said, according to the press release from the presidency.

“Hate Speech”

This charge by Kaïs Saïed once morest sub-Saharan migrants comes a few days following some twenty Tunisian NGOs denounced on Thursday the rise of “hate speech” and racism once morest them. According to these organisations, “the Tunisian state is turning a deaf ear to the rise of hateful and racist discourse on social networks and in certain media”. This discourse “is even carried by certain political parties, which carry out propaganda actions on the ground facilitated by the regional authorities”, they added.

Denouncing “the human rights violations” of which migrants are victims, the NGOs called on the Tunisian authorities “to fight once morest hate speech, discrimination and racism once morest them and to intervene in the event of an emergency to guarantee the dignity and migrants’ rights.

Tunisia, some portions of the coastline of which are less than 150 km from the Italian island of Lampedusa, very regularly records attempts to leave migrants, mostly sub-Saharan Africans, for Italy.

With AFP