Sub-Saharan African countries are repatriating citizens from Tunisia

• President Kais Saied condemned reported unlawful border crossings from Sub-Saharan Africa into Tunisia.
• Several Sub-Saharan countries are assisting their residents in returning home.
• The African Union sharply criticized the Tunisian government’s sentiments, calling them “racist” and “shocking.”

After inflammatory remarks made by Tunisia’s president last month about illegal immigration into the North African country, several Sub-Saharan countries, including Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, and Gabon, are assisting their residents in returning home.

On February 21, President Kais Saied condemned reported unlawful border crossings from Sub-Saharan Africa into Tunisia as a “criminal enterprise hatched at the beginning of this century to change the demographic composition of Tunisia.”

The ongoing illegal immigration, according to Saied, wants to turn Tunisia into “only an African country with no belonging to the Arab and Muslim worlds,” adding that those behind the program are involved in human trafficking.

The African Union sharply criticized the Tunisian government’s sentiments, calling them “racist” and “shocking.”

“The Chairperson recalls all governments, particularly African Union Member States, to uphold their commitments under international law and applicable African Union treaties to treat all migrants with dignity, wherever they come from,” the AU said in a statement on February 24.

Meanwhile, Ivory Coast announced on Friday that 145 citizens will be repatriated on Saturday.

According to a Thursday article in the state newspaper L’Essour, Mali has also announced the voluntary repatriation of its citizens from Tunisia. Meanwhile, Guinea shared photos on Twitter of junta head Col. Mamady Doumbouya greeting returning Guineans at Conakry International Airport on Saturday and last Wednesday.

According to the Gabonese embassy in Tunisia, many migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa no longer feel safe in Tunisia, and the country has offered to repatriate its residents, who have until Sunday to register for voluntary repatriation.

On February 23, Saied reiterated that there is no racial prejudice in Tunisia and that “our African brothers residing in Tunisia legally” are welcome.

According to state news agency TAP, Tunisian authorities apprehended 58 African migrants on Friday after they allegedly crossed the border and remained unlawfully in the nation.

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