Tunisian authorities are coordinating with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to respond to the plight of migrants in Jebiniana and Al Amra in the province of Sfax by supporting and facilitating their “voluntary returns,” a spokesman for the Tunisian National Guard said on Thursday.
Brigadier General Hossam El-Din Al-Jabali, spokesman for the General Administration of the National Guard, said the IOM and the Red Crescent inspected the situation of migrants who have been stranded in Jebiniana and Al Amra for months.
He said the migrants wish to return to their countries.
Last week, bloody clashes erupted between the migrants and locals, who had protested against their arrival in large numbers in Tunisia.
The IOM said it has aided the voluntary return of migrants from Tunisia to their countries of origin under the Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) program.
According to the Tunisian Interior Ministry, 7,100 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have already left Tunisia under the program between March 2023 and May this year.
On May 9, the IOM said it facilitated the voluntary return of 161 migrants from Tunisia to The Gambia, as part of the AVRR program.
Upon their return, these migrants will receive ongoing health and reintegration support to help them rebuild their lives, IOM said in a statement.
Tunisian President Kais Saied described the influx of irregular migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa to Tunisia as an “unnatural” situation calling at a meeting of the National Security Council to deal with the situation in a “different way.”
A record number of sub-Saharan migrants arrived in Tunisia in 2023 to cross from there to the shores of Europe. The Interior Ministry said there are more than 32,000 migrants in the country, including 23,000 illegal migrants.
Khaled Ghali, president of the Tunisian General Labor Union, called on the European Union to assist Tunisia in dealing with the crisis.
