Tunisia: Rights Groups Slam ‘Racist' Migrant Comments

Sub-Saharan African women look for clothes in a thrift store in the popular Ariana souk near Tunis on February 22, 2023. (Photo by FETHI BELAID / AFP)
Sub-Saharan African women look for clothes in a thrift store in the popular Ariana souk near Tunis on February 22, 2023. (Photo by FETHI BELAID / AFP)
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Tunisia: Rights Groups Slam ‘Racist' Migrant Comments

Sub-Saharan African women look for clothes in a thrift store in the popular Ariana souk near Tunis on February 22, 2023. (Photo by FETHI BELAID / AFP)
Sub-Saharan African women look for clothes in a thrift store in the popular Ariana souk near Tunis on February 22, 2023. (Photo by FETHI BELAID / AFP)

Tunisian rights groups accused on Wednesday President Kais Saied of racism and hate speech after he said "hordes" of sub-Saharan African migrants were causing crime and posed a demographic threat.

A statement from his office, decrying "a criminal plot... to change Tunisia's demographic make-up" without citing any evidence, has sparked an outcry online.

"Hordes of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa are still arriving, with all the violence, crime and unacceptable practices that entails," Saied told his national security council on Tuesday evening, according to the statement.

Some Tunisians have taken to social media to accuse the president of outright racism and invoking right-wing conspiracy theories.

Advocacy group the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) said Wednesday Saied's discourse was "drowning in racism and hatred".

"The president is using the migration crisis... to distract attention from economic and social problems," spokesman Romdhane Ben Amor told AFP.

More than 21,000 sub-Saharan Africans live in Tunisia, including those with student visas and other legal residency, the FTDES says, citing official figures.

Many irregular migrants from the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and Guinea work badly paid, unofficial jobs to get by and save up for attempts to reach Italy.

Ben Amor said Saied's latest comments showed he had "obviously and totally caved in to pressure from the Italian authorities to stop the flow of migrants" towards European shores.

Tunisian anti-racism group Mnemty said it "condemns this racist discourse, which incites hatred and aggression, enmity and violence against black sub-Saharan African migrants".

In a joint statement, a coalition of 18 rights groups expressed their "complete and unconditional solidarity with sub-Saharan immigrants and their defenders".

Mostafa Abdelkebir, president of the Tunisian Observatory of Human Rights, said on Facebook the president's rhetoric does not represent the country "at all".



Libya's Anti-NGO Push Seen as Diversion from Internal Failures, Analysts Say

Head of Libya's Government of National Unity Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah - File Photo
Head of Libya's Government of National Unity Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah - File Photo
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Libya's Anti-NGO Push Seen as Diversion from Internal Failures, Analysts Say

Head of Libya's Government of National Unity Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah - File Photo
Head of Libya's Government of National Unity Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah - File Photo

Libya's suspension of 10 international humanitarian groups, part of a broader crackdown on African migrants, is aimed at masking domestic failures and securing external concessions, particularly from Europe, analysts have said, AFP reported.

Libya's Tripoli-based authorities announced on Wednesday a decision to suspend the Norwegian Refugee Council, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Terre des Hommes, CESVI and six other groups, accusing them of a plan to "settle migrants" from other parts of Africa in the country.

War-torn Libya is a key departure point on North Africa's Mediterranean coast for migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan African countries, risking dangerous sea voyages in the hope of reaching Europe.

Anas al-Gomati, director of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute think tank, said "this isn't about NGOs -- it's about creating enemies to distract from failures".

The UN-recognized government of Abdulhamid Dbeibah is "tapping into conservative anxieties while masking their inability to provide basic services", he told AFP.

The ultimate goal, according to Gomati, is to "extract concessions from Europe which, fearing potential migration surges, will offer new funding packages and prop up the government in Tripoli".

On Wednesday, Rome announced the allocation of 20 million euros to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to finance "voluntary repatriations" for 3,300 sub-Saharan migrants who arrived in Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

"This isn't coincidence -- its coordination. The Libyan authorities shut down NGOs providing monitoring and protection (for migrants) precisely as Italy announces 20 million euros for 'voluntary' returns," said Gomati.

"Italy gets to claim they're funding 'voluntary' returns while Libya gets to demonstrate 'sovereignty', all while vulnerable migrants face extortion in detention before being labelled 'volunteers' for deportation."

Libya analyst Jalel Harchaoui noted that the Tripoli government is adopting a similar tone to Tunisian President Kais Saied, who in early 2023 denounced what he called "hordes of sub-Saharan migrants" who threatened to "change the country's demographic composition".

Harchaoui, of the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said Dbeibah was facing considerable difficulties, particularly in gaining access to public funds, and his once pragmatic relationship with the Haftar family in the east had deteriorated.

Following the NGO ban, aid groups have expressed concern for both their Libyan colleagues and the migrants who have been made more vulnerable in a country that, according to the IOM, is home to more than 700,000 residents from sub-Saharan countries.

The International Commission of Jurists on Friday condemned the "recent collective expulsions, arrests, violent attacks and the surge of hate speech, including that which constitutes incitement to violence, against migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Libya".

The organization noted that the Libyan interior ministry has pledged "the deportation of 100,000 migrants every four months".