After clashes with residents of Port City of Sfax in Tunisia hundreds of African migrants were driven into the desert. Witnesses told AFP that the displaced people were talking catastrophic conditions in the desert region of southern Tunisia. Since the beginning of the week, tensions have risen between city residents and migrants. Dozens of migrants fled or were forcibly displaced.
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“Have nothing to eat or drink”
According to NGOs, hundreds of migrants were taken by bus to desert areas in southern Tunisia, some near the border with Libya and others near the border with Algeria. Many of the people came from these two countries.
“We have nothing to eat or drink. We are in the desert,” Issa Kone, 27, told AFP. He said he was taken on a bus with dozens of other migrants from Sfax, near the Algerian border. “National Guard agents arrested us in Sfax after breaking into our house,” Kone said.
President defends action
Tunisian President Kais Saied rejected criticism of the North African country’s treatment of migrants. “These migrants are treated humanely, based on our values and character traits,” Saied said, according to a statement from the Office of the President on Saturday night. This behavior contrasts “with what colonial circles and their agents are spreading”, said the head of state after a meeting with Prime Minister Nejla Bouden on the subject of migration.
The desert eviction followed the funeral of a 41-year-old Tunisian man who was stabbed to death during clashes between residents and migrants in Sfax on Monday. The incident caused outrage. Residents then said they were fed up with the presence of migrants in the city. Sfax is considered one of the departure ports for migrants from many African countries, who depart from there on boats to Europe. The second largest city in Tunisia is located about 130 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
In Tunisia it was the last to a Increase in racially motivated attacks came after President Kais Saied accused “hordes” of illegal immigrants of a “criminal conspiracy” in February.