Home ›› 05 Mar 2023 ›› World Biz
More than 100 Malians left Tunisia Saturday, a diplomat told AFP, the first of two repatriation flights carrying West African migrants fearful of a wave of violence since a controversial tirade by the president.
In February, President Kais 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.
A first group of 50 Guineans were flown home on Wednesday.
A plane carrying 133 nationals of Mali departed from Tunisia on Saturday at around midday, a Malian diplomat said.
The group included "25 women and nine children as well as 25 students", the diplomat added on condition of anonymity. Ivory Coast prepared to repatriate some 145 people on a special flight later on Saturday, diplomats and community organisers said.
An AFP photographer saw the Malian group leave their embassy in Tunis in the early morning, boarding buses to the airport where a chartered plane awaited.
"The Tunisians don't like us, so we are forced to leave," Bagresou Sego told AFP before boarding the bus.
Adrahmen Dombia, who arrived in Tunisia four years ago, said he had to stop mid-year his university studies. "I'm going back because I'm not safe."
Another Malian migrant, Baril, said he had a permit to stay in Tunisia but joined the repatriation flight.
"We ask President Kais Saied with great respect to consider our other brothers and treat them well," he told AFP.
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.
Vigilante violence
Since Saied gave his speech, rights groups have reported a spike in vigilante violence including stabbings of sub-Saharan Africans.
Jean Badel Gnabli, head of an association of Ivorian migrants in Tunisia, told AFP from the airport that "145 people are leaving this morning after having spent the night in hotels."
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 1,100 Ivorians out of some 7,000 in Tunisia have applied to be repatriated.
Michael Elie Bio Vamet, head of an Ivorian student association, said 30 students signed up for the repatriation flight despite having permits to stay.
"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.
Many African migrants in Tunisia lost their jobs and homes overnight.
Dozens were arrested after identity checks, and some are still being detained.
Migrants whose countries have embassies in Tunisia rushed to them seeking assistance.
The embassies of Ivory Coast and Mali provided emergency accommodation this week for dozens of their citizens who had been evicted from their homes, including young children.
Those with no diplomatic representation in Tunisia set up makeshift camps outside the Tunis offices of the International Organization for Migration.
Among those heading home are dozens of fee-paying or scholarship students who were enrolled in Tunisian universities and in the country legally.
