NGOs on Wednesday denounced a “racist and hateful” speech by Tunisian President Kais Saied after his violent charge against migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, whom he presented as a demographic threat to his country.
President Saied on Tuesday advocated “urgent measures” against the illegal immigration of nationals of sub-Saharan African countries, saying that their presence in Tunisia was a source of “violence, crimes and unacceptable acts”.
During a meeting, he made very harsh remarks about the arrival of “hordes of illegal immigrants” and insisted on “the need to put an end quickly” to this immigration.
He further maintained that this illegal immigration was part of a “criminal enterprise hatched at the dawn of this century to change the demographic composition of Tunisia”, so that it would be considered an “African only” country and blur its “Arab-Muslim” character.
“This speech causes great disappointment and great consternation,” reacted to AFP Romdhane Ben Amor, spokesperson for the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES).
“This racist and hateful speech marks a sad day. The fact that the president of a country that has signed international conventions on immigration is making such a speech is extremely serious,” he said.
Mr. Saied was speaking at a meeting of the National Security Council “devoted to the urgent measures that must be taken to deal with the arrival in Tunisia of a large number of illegal migrants from sub-Saharan Africa”, according to a press release from the presidency.
Authorities said at least 138 illegal immigrants had been arrested or intercepted at sea overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday.
According to official figures quoted by the FTDES, Tunisia, a country of some 12 million inhabitants, has more than 21,000 nationals from sub-Saharan African countries, the majority in an irregular situation.
Most of these migrants arrive in Tunisia and then attempt to illegally immigrate to Europe by sea, with some stretches of the Tunisian coastline being less than 150 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
According to official Italian figures, more than 32,000 migrants, including 18,000 Tunisians, arrived in Italy illegally from Tunisia in 2022.
Saied’s speech, which concentrates all powers after suspending parliament in July 2021 and dismissing the government, comes as the country is going through a serious economic crisis marked by recurring shortages of basic commodities, amid political tensions. .
“The president is instrumentalizing the migrant crisis to divert public opinion’s attention from economic and social issues by inventing a new danger,” Ben Amor said.
“This speech bears no resemblance to Tunisia. Tunisia’s international standing and its humanitarian history are much greater than this speech,” the president of the Tunisian Human Rights Observatory, Mostafa Abdelkebir, reacted on Facebook.
Mnemty, an association that fights against discrimination, also condemned the press release from the Tunisian presidency, calling it “speech of racism and hatred and incitement to violence against sub-Saharan migrants.”
In a joint statement, 18 other NGOs and associations, including the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) expressed their “full and unconditional solidarity with sub-Saharan migrants and their defenders”, saying that President Saied’s speech recalled ” the era of the Nazi extermination camps of the Second World War”.
Mr Saied’s statements about the existence of a ‘criminal enterprise’ aimed at changing the demographic composition of Tunisia have drawn comparisons with the ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory endorsed in France by far-right polemicist Eric Zemmour.
“The Maghreb countries themselves are starting to sound the alarm over the surge in migration. Here it is Tunisia that wants to take urgent action to protect its people. What are we waiting for to fight the Great Replacement?” , commented Mr. Zemmour on Twitter by sharing a press article on the remarks made by Mr. Saied.
Saied’s speech comes days after some 20 Tunisian NGOs denounced the rise of “hate speech” and racism against them in the country.
02/22/2023 23:10:06 – Tunis (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
