It has been a dizzying political weeks in Tunisia.
Two weeks ago, Tunisian President Kais Saied instructed security forces to take “urgent measures” against Black African migration, which he claimed was part of a plot to change the country’s racial demographics to that of “just an African country with no ties to Arab or Islamic nations.” There are around 21,000 Black migrants in Tunisia out of a total population of 12 million, or 0.17 percent.
Saied, who was elected in 2019 and has since consolidated power and presided over a crackdown on his critics, turned his ire on sub-Saharan Africans in the country in February, accusing them of plotting to change Tunisia’s demographics to make it “only an African country with no ties to Arab or Islamic nations.”
In remarks to national security advisers on February 21, published on the presidency’s website, Saied blamed “hordes of irregular migrants” for violence and crime, in what critics characterized as an attempt to blame immigrants for the country’s problems and distract away from his government’s arrests of opposition leaders.
The apprehension that his words might inspire Tunisians to attack or otherwise persecute African black residents has been confirmed. Racial hate speech has increased online, as have reports of sub-Saharan African migrants finding themselves suddenly homeless or unemployed, with landlords and employers expressing fears of legal consequences. In an interview with the Tunisian television station Attessia last month, the spokesman for the Tunisian National Guard, Houssem Eddine Jebabli, warned those who hire or house illegal immigrants with arrest.
This racist language – the language of being overwhelmed by the demographic change of the country by sub-Saharan migrants, colloquially referred to as the “demographic threat” — is part of a broader trend that has been present over the last couple of years in Tunisia.
As conditions deteriorate, some migrants are setting up camp in front of their embassies or the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, in Tunis. Ivory Coast, Mali, and Guinea have began airlifting their citizens out of the country. The Nigerian government is considering evacuations of its own, an official body charged with engaging with members of the Nigerian diaspora tweeted Monday.
According to official figures, the repatriations represent barely a fraction of the approximately 21,000 sub-Saharan African migrants living in Tunisia. Doubts remain as to whether a larger-scale exodus will occur. Nonetheless, the departures reflect the prevailing climate of fear.
Some undocumented migrants enter Tunisia through irregular routes, whereas the majority arrive legally and overstay their visas. In order to leave, they must pay a charge of approximately $6 each week of overstaying, which is expensive for many who have lived in the country illegally for years, in challenging circumstances.
“As you heard from the World Bank, we, too, are deeply concerned by President Saied’s remarks regarding migration from sub-Saharan Africa to Tunisia and reports of arbitrary arrests of migrants in recent weeks,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday.
The populist president’s comments echoed the great replacement theory embraced by far-right politicians in the United States and Europe. He accused “hordes of irregular migrants” of criminality and violence.
The African Union (AU) postponed a continental conference scheduled for next week in Tunisia’s capital, Tunis. Meanwhile, the AU’s chairperson, Moussa Faki, has condemned Saied’s use of “racialized hate speech.”
In response to international criticism, the Tunisian government has attempted damage control. Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar called allegations of official racism “unjust” and “unacceptable” at a news conference Monday, Tunisian official news agency TAP reported.
In a statement released on Monday, the government described Tunisia’s status as an African nation as “an honor.”
“Tunisia will continue to be a state that fights for the oppressed and prevails for victims of any form of racial discrimination,” read the statement.
The government also announced steps to help foreigners residing in Tunisia, such as giving medical and psychological support for migrants, offering one-year residency permits to students from other African nations, and exempting “African brothers” from fines for overstaying their visas.
Officials also launched a hotline to provide information to foreigners and pledged to liaise with embassies to “promote voluntary departures.”
By: Abir Ben Soulah.
