Koné, a young Ivorian, has not heard from his half-sister for more than a week. Little does he know that 15-year-old Mariam is being kidnapped by other migrants in Sfax, Tunisia's second largest city. Mariam is not alone in this situation. Since October, worrying reports of new human trafficking have been increasing in the country. Sub-Saharan migrants of various nationalities are kidnapped and held in shelters in Sfax with the aim of extorting a ransom for their relatives. Their release can cost several hundred euros.
Le Monde Afrique was able to collect several corroborating statements from the victims' relatives, information on their whereabouts and documents proving several money transfers for their release. The authorities are working discreetly with lawyers and human rights organizations to put an end to this phenomenon, which is linked to the repression of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa in Tunisia.
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According to the story of her half-brother, who lives on the outskirts of Sfax, Mariam left Man in western Ivory Coast and went to Mali before joining Algeria in November. “It was her boyfriend back home who sent her there,” he explains. After a week, the young girl managed to cross the Tunisian border and found herself in Kasserine, in the mid-west of the country. “That’s when she called me on someone else’s phone. She didn’t have hers anymore,” Koné continues. A Tunisian driver offers to take him to his destination Sfax for 200 euros since he cannot use public transport.
“This phenomenon didn’t exist before”
Following President Kaïs Saïed's statements in February 2023, in which he reiterated that the arrival of people from sub-Saharan Africa to the country was part of a “criminal plan to change the composition of the demographic landscape”, the living conditions of migrants in the country deteriorated Tunisia quickly. The peak of violence occurred in July, when hundreds of sub-Saharan African nationals were expelled from Sfax by law enforcement and left in the desert without means of subsistence. Since then, the Tunisian authorities have threatened those who transport people in an irregular situation with sanctions. Prices on the parallel market immediately rose.
To pay for Mariam's trip, Koné could count on a transfer from a relative in Europe, which was paid to the driver. But when he arrived in Sfax, “he sold it to Cameroonians and Ivorians,” assures his half-brother. The kidnappers demand 1,000 dinars (around 300 euros) to release the teenager. The young man, who arrived in Tunisia less than two months ago, has no source of income and has never been to the city of Sfax, where the prisoner still remains. “I told them I don’t have any money at the moment. Now they have blocked all the numbers I know, I haven't heard from them in over a week. The family is very worried and calls me every day, but I don't know what to do,” he laments.
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Hamida Chaieb, a lawyer and member of the Steering Committee of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), is responsible for two similar cases and has received several reports of kidnappings since October. “This phenomenon didn’t exist before,” she says, describing the same processes: “These are migrants who come from Algeria or were expelled by the police at the border.” In border areas, they are usually taken by Tunisian transport companies Sfax, where they hand them over to sub-Saharan migrants, who confiscate them. The amounts vary and can be up to 2,000 Tunisian dinars. »
“His big brother paid $300.”
According to the lawyer, the cases are now being processed in close cooperation with the public prosecutor's office and the Tunis criminal police. Despite the reluctance and delays observed in initial reports, several arrests have already been made. “At first the police didn’t believe it because there were cases where people lied to their loved ones so that they would send them money,” explains Me Chaieb.
As kidnappings increased, reality finally set in. Le Monde has identified at least five. “The police were afraid to intervene at the time because certain people were armed. In the cases I deal with, they eventually returned there but did not find them, they had already changed their location,” continues Me Chaieb, who confirms that at least two people were released after paying a ransom , can testify.
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Bamba, 37, has been living in El Oued, in the Algerian desert near the border with Tunisia, for several months. This Ivorian was contacted by at least three victims of this trafficking in Sfax. They had recorded his number before leaving El Oued. In this way, Bamba was able to help her relatives receive the amounts demanded by the kidnappers. Issa, a young Guinean and former travel companion, is one of them.
“They left them a phone so they could contact their loved ones,” explains Bamba, who gave Le Monde the last known whereabouts of his friend and his two other acquaintances, as well as receipts for money transfers in francs. CFA, in dollars and euros, sent by the victims' relatives. According to him, Issa left El Oued for Tunisia on December 12.
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Arriving in Sfax on his own, he followed “young Ivorians” who allegedly offered him to spend the night at their home. “He tried to contact his correspondent there to help him find an apartment, but it was late and the person didn’t answer,” he says. The next morning, the “bandits” prevent Issa from going out and demand money from him, saying he has to pay “the price of a taxi and accommodation”: 350 euros. “It’s like a job for them. They started beating him and gave him the phone to call his family. I contacted his older brother who paid $300. He didn't want his brother to be tortured. »
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Bamba hasn't heard from his friend since then. After a long journey through Libya and Algeria, he decided to “rest a little” and endure the living conditions in the El Oued desert for a while, having witnessed that Tunisia was a fate for his companions who had set off on their way to Europe prepared.