Two West African states are repatriating their citizens from Tunisia in response to President Kais Saied’s provocative comments from last week.
Mr Saied said that illegal migration was changing demographics in Tunisia, and accused “illegal hordes” of being behind rising crime.
Since then, numerous immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa have been detained.
Ivory Coast and Guinea announced that they would send specially chartered aircraft to bring home their citizens.
“The most urgent thing is to save lives, to prevent injuries,” Ivory Coast’s government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly was quoted as saying to reporters.
Official statistics cited by a local rights activist who accused Mr. Saied of “inciting hatred” and “racial discrimination against African migrants” indicated that there were approximately 21,000 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa living in Tunisia in 2021.
Mr Saied has denied being racist.
Many immigrants lost their jobs and homes overnight as a result of his remarks. Some claim to have experienced physical assault.
Since then, hundreds of Ivorians and Guineans have registered with their countries’ embassies to be repatriated.
“The undeclared goal of the successive waves of illegal immigration is to consider Tunisia a purely African country that has no affiliation to the Arab and Islamic nations,” Mr Saied said.
The statement was condemned as “shocking” by the African Union, of which Tunisia is a member, and warned against “racialised hate speech”.
According to a survey published last year, about 80% of Tunisians think that racial discrimination is a problem in their country, which deems the highest percentage in the Middle East and North Africa.
Author-Roberta Appiah
