The violence triggered by President Saïed’s xenophobic speeches is driving sub-Saharan immigrants to leave the North African country. Many choose to rely on boats, as well as Tunisians fleeing the economic collapse
From the only successful experiment to emerge from the Arab Spring to a state perilously close to bankruptcy. In which, moreover, the “black hunt” broke out. It was the threat of a new migration crisis in the Mediterranean that put Tunisia back on Europe’s radar. After the resumption of departures of boats full of desperate people right from the coasts of the North African country, the leaders meeting in Brussels sounded the alarm: in the absence of aid to Tunis, there is the risk of an implosion which could involve the entire area.
The authoritarian turn made recently by President Kaïs Saïed under the pretext of curbing political corruption has dismantled the democratic counterweights of the Tunisian system, without however succeeding in halting the dramatic economic crisis, aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has pushed the majority of the population below the poverty line. A situation made extreme by the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, from which the North African country imported half of its wheat needs: the increase in the prices of food and raw materials in general and the disappearance from the shelves of many basic necessities have triggered a real social emergency.
But today it is African immigrants who are worst off: officially 57,000 people of various nationalities, almost a third Ivorian, according to data from the United Nations and the Tunisian Observatory on Migration. Arrived in the country as asylum seekers, to study or work, or to attempt to cross the Mediterranean with the mirage of Europe, in recent weeks they have found themselves facing the consequences of the violent intolerance triggered by the president’s xenophobic speeches. During a meeting of the national security council on 21 February, Saïed lashed out against the “hordes of illegal migrants originating in sub-Saharan Africa” who are alleged to be the cause of “violence and crimes” and attacked those who would like to “change the demographic composition of Tunisia” to make it “another African state that no longer belongs to the Arab and Islamic world“.
These very serious and irresponsible stances, arrived in an already incandescent social climate poisoned by nationalist propaganda, have unleashed a wave of attacks against black citizens in various cities: beatings in the streets, assaults on private homes, hundreds of arrests and repatriations – more or less voluntary – to their countries of origin.
“Today many migrants are hidden in the host communities where they have found shelter,” says a humanitarian worker who prefers to remain anonymous. ‘For weeks they haven’t dared set foot on the street to go to work or to university. Many of them have lost their homes and jobs and have no idea what awaits them: for this reason there are those who, terrified, have turned to the embassy of their country of origin to return home. Several special flights have been organized to the Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea Konakry, Burkina Faso, Congo…».
A mass flight which, in reality, not all Tunisians are welcoming with satisfaction, also for practical reasons: «The Sub-Saharans here contribute to the life of society in a decisive way, above all as manpower for some demanding professions: construction workers, agricultural labourers, waiters, domestic workers, often exploited», explains the operator. Not only that: “Universities are normally attended by thousands of African students while now most have emptied and teachers fear for their jobs.”
All this in a general context of serious social emergency, with the concrete risk of state bankruptcy: the suspension of the 1.9 billion dollar loan by the IMF, motivated by the failure to cut public wages and energy subsidies, threw the country in panic.
“Poverty is growing day by day,” says our source. “Everything has become expensive and people don’t have the means to live in dignity: it’s a daily struggle. Many Tunisians, exasperated, today choose to get on the boats to try to reach the northern Mediterranean”. A choice that is becoming almost obligatory for sub-Saharan immigrants: «After the first effects of his incendiary speech, the president had promised the regularization of immigrants who are in the country for study purposes, but in practice these announcements have remained a dead letter. We have numerous testimonies from students who have turned to the police headquarters but have been refused a residence permit. And there are many cases of people who, after having registered for voluntary repatriation in the wake of the terror caused by the pogroms, then refused to actually return to their own countries and prefer to try their luck by relying on the sea”. On the tubs that venture into the uncertain waters of the Mediterranean, so today we find the outcasts of Tunisia, black and white. Meanwhile, Europe is trying to find a way to run for cover, without ceasing to argue about relocations and to recriminate against the NGOs, committed – at least they – to try to save the lives of migrants and the humanity of the Old Continent.