In an interview with AFP, Tunisian Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar said Tunisia favors appeasement after President Kais Saied’s comments on immigration sparked a wave of outrage. The diplomatic chief, however, refused to apologize.
“Racist”, “hateful”, “shocking”… Since the announcement of “urgent measures” against illegal immigration of nationals from sub-Saharan Africa, Tunisia has faced a wave of outrage from several NGOs.
Although President Kais Saied considered that the presence of “clandestine migrants” was a source of “violence and crime”, on Monday February 27 Tunisian diplomacy denounced a “bad process of deceptive interpretation of the words of the high Tunisian authorities on This subject”.
“It’s been a few days since this happened and now we have to keep cool, we have to appease, and the appeasement messages have already been sent through official and other channels,” Foreign Affairs Minister Nabil Ammar told Ammar AFP .
Despite Tunisia being questioned by several African countries and the African Union condemning the Tunisian President’s “shocking” statements, the Tunisian minister reiterated that his country would not “apologize”. “No, it’s not about apologies at all, we didn’t hurt anyone,” he said.
“Illegal migrants are called to return home”
In total, Tunisia has more than 21,000 nationals from sub-Saharan Africa. Nevertheless, Tunisian diplomacy made it clear that the measures announced by Kais Saied only target illegal migrants.
“There is no problem for legal migrants. On the contrary, we want more,” said Nabil Ammar. “And illegal migrants are called to return home, but with respect for their rights and their dignity,” he added.
Kais Saied argued in his speech that this (clandestine) immigration is part of a “criminal enterprise” aimed at changing Tunisia’s demographic makeup in order to blur its “Arab-Muslim” character.
Since February 21, the country has reported an increase in attacks on migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. The Tunisian Foreign Ministry, in turn, called for “not to mix up individual actions and official actions”.
“We must not confuse individual files with official files. The authorities are taking all measures to protect all migrants in Tunisia, whether legal or illegal,” he concluded.