Some 300 West African migrants were set to leave Tunisia on repatriation flights Saturday, fearful of a wave of violence since President Kais Saied delivered a controversial tirade last month.
In his February 21 speech, Saied ordered officials to take “urgent measures” to tackle irregular migration, claiming without evidence that “a criminal plot” was underway “to change Tunisia’s demographic makeup”. Saied charged that migrants were behind most crime in the North African country, fuelling a spate of sackings, evictions and physical attacks against the community.
The African Union expressed “deep shock and concern at the form and substance” of Saied’s remarks, while governments in sub-Saharan Africa scrambled to organise the repatriation of hundreds of fearful nationals who flocked to their embassies for help. Ivory Coast airlifts its persecuted citizens from Tunisia. Approx 2,000 will be repatriated. Guinea staged an emergency airlift last week.
A first group of 50 Guineans were flown home on Wednesday, while Ivory Coast and Mali prepared to repatriate a combined 295 of their citizens on special flights on Saturday, diplomats and community organisers said.
“145 people are leaving this morning after having spent the night in hotels,” Jean Badel Gnabli, head of an association of Ivorian migrants in Tunisia, told AFP from the airport ahead of departure. He had said earlier that the whole community was living in fear. “They feel like they’ve been handed over to mob justice.”
Ivorian ambassador Ibrahim Sy Savane said a total of 1,100 Ivorians have applied to be repatriated from Tunisia. According to official figures, there are around 21,000 undocumented migrants from other parts of Africa in Tunisia, a country of about 12 million inhabitants. The Ivorian community numbers around 7,000 people.
Michael Elie Bio Vamet, head of an Ivorian student association, said 30 students signed up for the repatriation flight despite having permits to stay in Tunisia. “They don’t feel comfortable,” he told AFP by phone. “Some of them were victims of racist acts. Some are at the end of their studies, but others discontinued.”
“There are attacks almost every day, threats, they are even being kicked out by landlords or physically attacked,” he added.
