On this late July afternoon, the Chokri café, located in downtown Sfax, is almost empty. Only a handful of customers, all Tunisians, are seated in the shelter of a still scorching sun after another day of heat wave. But the suffocating heat is not the only reason for this disaffection. “At this time, a few weeks ago, you would have found dozens of sub-Saharan Africans. Now there is no one left,” observes the proprietor.
Since the beginning of July, migrants have been the target of real manhunts in Tunisia’s second city. Expelled from their homes by the inhabitants, attacked by some of them, forcibly taken into the middle of the desert by the police: never before had such a level of violence against migrants from sub-Saharan Africa been reached in the country. Officially, it was the death of a young Tunisian, killed on July 3 in a fight with migrants, according to the prosecution, which set fire to the powder. But in reality, this outbreak of hatred springs after months of tension between Tunisians and sub-Saharans.
For Zied Mellouli, an activist known for having launched the citizens’ movement “Sayeb Trottoir” (“let go of the pavement”), the “problem” of migrants has worsened since 2022. “Before, we lived peacefully with the Sub-Saharans, we rented our houses to them, they worked or studied here, there was no problem. But suddenly, their number increased tenfold and their presence in working-class neighborhoods and in the markets created tensions,” he explains.
Settlement of accounts
Located some 150 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa, the Sfax region has seen a significant increase in the departure of sub-Saharan migrants to the European Union (EU) in recent years. The evolution of official figures communicated by the Tunisian National Guard illustrates this trend. In 2019, 3,719 people were intercepted at sea by the coast guards, two thirds of them Tunisians. In 2022, this number has increased tenfold, two thirds of which come from sub-Saharan Africa. This trend was further accentuated during the first six months of 2023, with more than thirty thousand sub-Saharan migrants intercepted, compared to barely five thousand Tunisians.
With this significant increase in the number of candidates for exile, the tensions linked to the lucrative traffic of smugglers and intermediaries, both Tunisian and sub-Saharan, have been exacerbated. According to several testimonies collected from residents of the working-class district of Haffara and candidates for departure, fights between migrants first among themselves, then against Tunisians, have multiplied, against a background of settling scores or neighborhood problems.
Crossings from the coast between Sfax and Mahdia, some 90 kilometers to the north, have become daily and more affordable. Metal boats, less stable but less expensive, are used, making it possible to reduce the cost of the crossing to a range between 1,000 and 1,500 dinars (from 290 to 440 euros) per person and to multiply the number of departures. Every day, dozens of crossing offers are published on social networks, mainly by nationals of sub-Saharan Africa. According to the National Guard spokesperson, approximately 1,500 smugglers and intermediaries were arrested by Tunisian authorities between January 2022 and June 2023, mostly Tunisians.
In this context, a campaign against the presence of sub-Saharan migrants, particularly in Sfax, was launched at the end of 2022 by the Tunisian Nationalist Party, a microparty with xenophobic ideas which takes up far-right theories already known in Europe, such as that of the “great replacement”. An ideology taken up by President Kaïs Saïed. In February, he accused “hordes of illegal migrants” of wanting to “change the demographic composition of Tunisia” and of being a source of “violence, crimes and unacceptable acts”. By taking up these racist theories, the head of state unleashed a first wave of attacks and expulsions of sub-Saharan Africans. Several hundred of them were then repatriated by their respective countries on board emergency chartered flights.
Tuberculosis cases
In Sfax, Zied Mellouli denies being part of the same ideology as the Tunisian Nationalist Party, but believes that the presence of migrants constitutes a “danger for the inhabitants” and that they are both the source of violence in working-class neighborhoods and “vectors of disease”. This fear was confirmed on June 23 by the regional director of health in Sfax, who announced sixty-nine cases of tuberculosis, including fifty-five in migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Following this declaration, two anti-migrant demonstrations were organized in Sfax on June 25, bringing together several hundred people. It was a few days later that the death of the young Tunisian occurred.
For two consecutive nights, certain areas of the city were then the scene of violent clashes, and residents gathered to attack the migrants and dislodge them. “Young people came to hunt whole families, the buildings were emptied, they were asked to line up, they were humiliated,” says Chokri, the cafe owner in the city center. At the same time, National Guard agents moved hundreds of migrants – some of them in a regular situation – to desert and inhospitable areas on the borders with Libya and Algeria, without water or food, according to concordant testimonies collected by Le Monde.
Despite the facts reported by the media and international organizations – including Human Rights Watch, which called for “investigating the security forces implicated in the abuses and bringing them to justice” – Tunisia continues to deny the existence of these forced displacements.
Calm has gradually returned to Sfax, but the consequences are heavy for those who still live there. At Bab Jebli, an entrance to the old town, several dozen sub-Saharan migrants are trying to shelter from the sun. A few Tunisians bring them water and food, under police surveillance. Omar and his group have been there for a week, after being evicted from their home in the middle of the night. “We had to flee without taking anything with us,” said the 25-year-old Cameroonian, who lived in one of the many accommodations in the city where sub-Saharan migrants shared accommodation.
For those who have kept a home or a job in Sfax, discrimination is numerous and daily. According to Franck Yotedje, director of the association Afrique Intelligence, which works to defend the rights of migrants, several sub-Saharan nationals now pay rents above market prices and are often prevented from using public transport or taxis. “We established a racial relationship. What is happening today would have been intolerable some time ago, he denounces. It’s not just an expression of anger: the original purpose was to chase away the migrants. This objective has been partially achieved. »
