Nearly 300 Ivorians and Malians wishing to flee Tunisia after attacks and demonstrations of hostility targeting nationals of sub-Saharan Africa will be repatriated on Saturday, official sources said in Abidjan.
“145 Ivorians will arrive on Saturday March 4, 2023 between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. (GMT and local) by an Air Côte d’Ivoire flight,” government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly announced on Friday evening on Radio news. Ivorian television.
He indicated that among the “1,300 Ivorians identified by the embassy” for a voluntary departure from Tunisia, “no injuries” were to be deplored.
Ivorians who arrive in Abidjan will receive a grant of 160,000 CFA francs (243 euros) to “return to their families”, he added.
The Embassy of Mali in Tunis, for its part, indicated that a plane capable of transporting 150 people had been chartered on the orders of the head of the Malian president, Colonel Assimi Goita. The plane will leave Tunis at 0800 on Saturday (0700 GMT).
These are the first repatriation flights to Côte d’Ivoire and Mali since the speech on February 21 by Tunisian President Kais Saïed, who announced “urgent measures” against illegal immigration from sub-Saharan Africa.
In this speech described as “racist” by NGOs, he said that their presence in Tunisia was a source of “violence, crimes and unacceptable acts”.
With MAP