Kais Saied warns of a conspiracy to settle Africans in Tunisia
Tunisian President Kais Saied called on Tuesday for urgent measures to stop the flow of irregular migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to his country, stating that this phenomenon leads to “violence and crimes” and describing it as a conspiracy to “change the demographic composition” of Tunisia.
Saied made these statements while chairing a meeting of the National Security Council “dedicated to urgent measures that must be taken to address the phenomenon of large numbers of irregular migrants from sub-Saharan Africa coming to Tunisia,” according to a statement from the Tunisian presidency.
In this meeting, the Tunisian president expressed great firmness towards the influx of “hordes of irregular migrants,” which leads to “violence, crimes, and unacceptable practices, as well as being a criminal offense.” Saied stressed the “need to quickly put an end to this phenomenon.
President Kais Saied called for urgent measures to be taken to stop the influx of irregular migrants from sub-Saharan Africa into Tunisia, citing that this phenomenon leads to “violence and crimes” and describing it as a conspiracy to “change the demographic composition” of Tunisia.
During a meeting of the National Security Council, Saied expressed strong condemnation of the flow of “bands of irregular migrants,” which leads to “unacceptable violence, crimes, and illegal practices.” He emphasized the need to put an end to this phenomenon quickly and stated that there was a criminal plan developed at the beginning of this century to change Tunisia’s demographic composition in order to settle irregular migrants from sub-Saharan Africa in the country.
He also stated that certain groups had received large sums of money since 2011 to settle irregular migrants from sub-Saharan Africa in Tunisia. Saied called for action to be taken on all diplomatic, security, military, and legal levels regarding the status of foreigners in Tunisia and the illegal crossing of borders.
According to the Tunisian presidency’s statement, Saied considered that those behind this phenomenon were trafficking in human beings while claiming to be defending human rights.
Tunisian President Kais Saied has denounced what he called a “criminal scheme” to change the country’s demographic makeup by settling illegal African migrants in the country. He accused some groups of receiving substantial funds to settle these migrants in Tunisia and said that the ultimate goal of this successive wave of illegal migration is to consider Tunisia as an African country only and not a member of both the Arab and Islamic nations.
His statements came shortly after more than twenty Tunisian human rights organizations condemned what they described as a “hate speech” towards migrants from sub-Saharan African countries. This was in response to the circulation of videos allegedly showing abuses committed by Africans in some provinces, particularly in Sfax in southern Tunisia.
Some recent social media campaigns in Tunisia have called on authorities to prevent African migrants from travelling through Tunisia on their way to Europe or settling in the country like thousands of others.
Non-governmental organizations called on Tunisian authorities to combat “hate speech, discrimination, and racism” on social media and in some media outlets. They also accused some political parties of adopting a hate speech and of political advertising facilitated by local authorities.
Some political forces that have won seats in parliament have also expressed concern about what they describe as projects to change Tunisia’s demographic makeup.
Tunisia serves as a transit point for thousands of migrants coming from sub-Saharan African countries who embark on irregular migration journeys by sea towards European coasts, particularly Italy.
