More than a hundred Malians left Tunisia on Saturday aboard the first of two planes repatriating sub-Saharan African nationals seeking to flee attacks and hostility demonstrations after a violent charge by President Kais Saied against migrants in situation irregular.
On February 21, Mr. Saied claimed that the presence in Tunisia of “hordes” of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa was a source of “violence and crimes” and was part of a “criminal enterprise” aimed at “changing the demographic composition” of the country.
On Saturday, “a total of 133 people were boarded” including “25 women and 9 children as well as 25 students” on the plane which left Tunisia around 11:00 GMT, a Malian diplomat told AFP on Saturday. On the side of the Ivorians, the plane to repatriate 145 people took a long time because of administrative procedures.
The presidential speech, condemned by NGOs as “racist and hateful”, provoked an outcry in Tunisia where people from sub-Saharan Africa have since reported an upsurge in attacks against them and have rushed by the dozens to their embassies to be repatriated.
Women, children, overloaded with suitcases and bundles, all said they were fleeing a climate heavy with threats. “The Tunisians don’t like us, so we have to leave, but the Tunisians who are with us must leave too,” Bagresou Sego told AFP, before boarding a bus organized by the embassy for the airport. .
Arrived 4 years ago, Abdrahmen Dombia interrupted his master’s studies in the middle of the university year: “the situation is critical here, I am returning because I am not safe”.
Baril, a “legal migrant”, expressed concern for those left behind: “President Kais Saied is asked with great respect to think of our brothers and treat them well”.
– “Racist acts” –
According to the Ivorian embassy in Tunis, “the number of candidates for return has reached 1,100”. A significant figure for the Ivorian community which, with around 7,000 people, is the largest in sub-Saharan Africa in Tunisia, thanks to a visa exemption on arrival.
Some 30 Ivorian students, in a regular situation, are among the returnees. “They do not feel comfortable, some have been victims of racist acts, some are at the end of their studies, others have interrupted them,” said AFP by telephone from Michaël Elie airport. Bio Vamet, President of the Association of Ivorian Students.
“There are attacks almost every day, threats, or they are kicked out by their landlords, or physically attacked,” he added.
Often from wealthy families, dozens of students from sub-Saharan Africa were enrolled in universities or training centers in Tunisia.
Frightened, many have already left on their own, according to their representatives.
The Association of Foreign Students AESAT documented the attack on February 26 of “four Ivorian students leaving their university hostel” and of “a Gabonese student in front of her home”.
The day after Mr. Saied’s speech, AESAT had instructed sub-Saharan students “to stay at home” and not to “go to class”. A directive extended at least until March 6.
– “Militias” –
Guineans who returned on the very first repatriation flight on Wednesday told AFP of a “surge of hatred” after Mr. Saied’s speech.
Many of the 21,000 nationals of sub-Saharan Africa officially registered in Tunisia, most of them in an irregular situation, lost their jobs – generally informal – and their homes overnight.
Dozens were arrested during police checks, some are still in detention. Others have testified to NGOs about the existence of “militias” who hunt them down and rob them.
This situation has caused the influx of hundreds of people to their embassies to be repatriated.
Others, even more vulnerable because they come from countries without an embassy in Tunis, have joined an improvised camp in front of the headquarters of the International Office for Migration (IOM), where they sleep in unsanitary conditions.
To speed up repatriations, Tunisia would have given up claiming penalties from people in an irregular situation (80 dinars, 25 euros per month of illegal stay) which, for some, exceeded 1,000 euros, according to the Malian diplomat.