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African migrants in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown

Saturday March 25 2023
African migrants protest in Tunisia

African migrants protest asking for evacuation from Tunisia near the UNHCR headquarters in Tunis on March 22, 2023. PHOTO | JIHED ABIDELLAOU | REUTERS

By REUTERS

Tunis

Weeks after a violent crackdown on migrants in Tunisia that triggered a perilous rush to leave by smuggler boats for Italy, many African nationals are still homeless and jobless and some say they still face racist attacks.

Outside the United Nations refugee agency in Tunis, dozens of African migrants stood protesting this week by the temporary camp where they have lived, including with children, since authorities urged landlords to force them from their homes.

"We need evacuation. Tunisia is not safe. No one has a future here when you have this colour. It is a crime to have this colour," said Josephus Thomas, pointing to the skin on his forearm.

Read: Tunisian youth dream of Europe as poverty bites

‘Racialised hate speech’

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In announcing the crackdown on February 21, President Kais Saied said illegal immigration was a criminal conspiracy to change Tunisia's demography, language the African Union described as "racialised hate speech".

US Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf told Reuters on Thursday that Saied's comments had unleashed "attacks and a tidal wave of racist rhetoric", with rights groups saying hundreds of migrants reported being attacked or insulted.

Sudanese refugee Awadhya Hasan Amine

Sudanese refugee Awadhya Hasan Amine sits in her tent at a temporary camp near the UNHCR in Tunis, Tunisia on March 22, 2023. PHOTO | JIHED ABIDELLAOU | REUTERS

Saied and Tunisia's foreign minister have rejected accusations that he or the government are racist and they announced steps to ease visa regulations for Africans and reminded police of anti-racism laws.

While the official crackdown appeared to end weeks ago, migrants say they still face abuse.

"People told me 'since you are in our country after the president's speech, don't you have any dignity?' I kept silent and they told me I am dirt," said Awadhya Hasan Amine, a Sudanese refugee outside the UNHCR headquarters in Tunis.

Read: Armed conflict, climate change fan Africa’s refugee crisis

Amine has lived in Tunis for five years after fleeing Sudan and then Libya with her husband. Now 30, she has been living on the street outside the UNHCR headquarters since local people pelted her house in the capital's Rouad district with stones.

"We want to live in a place of safety, stability and peace. We don't want problems in Tunisia," she said.

Many remain stuck

Although some West African countries evacuated hundreds of their citizens earlier this month, many remain stuck in Tunisia, unable to support themselves let alone afford passage home or pay smugglers hundreds of dollars to ferry them to Europe.

"Tunisia is an African country. Why do they do racist things to us?" asked Moumin Sou from Mali, who was sacked from his job at a bar after the president's speech and was beaten up the next day by a man in the street who stole his money.

Sou wants to return home, he said, but many others are determined to travel on to Europe.

In the wake of the crackdown, in which police detained hundreds of undocumented migrants and authorities urged employers to lay them off and landlords to evict them, smuggler crossings to Italy have surged.

Tunisian National Guard official Houssem Jbeli said that on Wednesday alone, the coast guard had stopped 30 boats carrying more than 2,000 people. On the same day and the following day, four boats sank, with five people drowning, authorities said.

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