After crackdowns, African migrants stranded in Tunisia claim racism still exists

 


Many African nationals are still homeless and jobless weeks after Tunisia's brutal crackdown on migrants that led to a dangerous rush to flee via smuggling boats for Italy, and some claim they are still the target of discriminatory assaults.

This week, hundreds of African migrants protested in front of the UN refugee agency in Tunis beside the makeshift camp where they have been staying, some of them with children, ever since the government ordered landlords to evict them from their houses.

"We must be evacuated. Not safe is Tunisia. When you have this hue, nobody has a future in this place. Josephus Thomas pointed to the skin on his forearm and declared, "It is a crime to have this colour.

The African Union referred to President Kais Saied's announcement of the crackdown on Feb. 21 as "racialized hate speech" because he claimed that illegal immigration was a criminal plot to alter Tunisia's demographics.

Saied's remarks, according to US Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf, sparked "attacks and a tidal wave of racist rhetoric," with rights organisations reporting that hundreds of migrants had been hurt or insulted.

In response to claims that he or the government are racist, Saied and Tunisia's foreign minister announced plans to relax visa requirements for Africans and reminded law enforcement of anti-racism statutes.

Although the official crackdown seems to have ended weeks ago, migrants said they continue to experience mistreatment.

"People asked me, 'Don't you have any dignity because you are in our nation after the president's speech?' Outside the UNHCR offices in Tunis, Sudanese refugee Awadhya Hasan Amine said, "I stayed quiet and they told me I am trash.

Amine and her husband fled Sudan and subsequently Libya and have been living in Tunis for five years. She has been residing on the sidewalk outside the UNHCR office since locals threw rocks through the windows of her home in the Rouad neighbourhood of the city when she was just 30 years old.

"We desire a secure, peaceful environment in which to live. There shouldn't be any issues in Tunisia, she declared.


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