Migrants forced from Tunisia port into desert: witnesses

Sfax, Tunisia (AFP):

Hundreds of African migrants were stranded in dire conditions in a desert area of southern Tunisia after being expelled from the port city of Sfax, witnesses reported.

Racial tensions flared this week into violence as migrants from sub-Saharan African countries were targeted, with dozens fleeing the city or being forcibly evicted.

“I came because I’d heard that human rights were respected in Tunisia, but what is happening shows that this is not the case,” said 27-year-old Issa Kone, from Mali.

The unrest erupted after the funeral of a 41-year-old Tunisian man who was stabbed to death Monday in Sfax in an altercation between locals and migrants.

Three suspects were subsequently arrested, all from Cameroon.

The stabbing lit a powder keg, with residents saying they are fed up with the presence of migrants in the city, where many gather before setting out in makeshift boats for Europe.

Sfax, the North African country’s second-largest city, is a departure point for many hoping to reach Italy by sea, often the island of Lampedusa about 130 kilometres away.

Tunisia has seen a rise in racially motivated attacks after President Kais Saied in February accused “hordes” of undocumented migrants of bringing violence and alleging a “criminal plot” to change the country’s demographic make-up.

NGOs say hundreds of migrants have been taken in buses to desert areas in southern Tunisia, some near the border with Libya and others close to the frontier with Algeria, two countries from which many migrants have crossed in.

Videos shared on social media showed police chasing dozens of migrants from their homes to the cheers of Tunisian residents, before loading them into police cars.

Europe dream shattered 

A 31-year-old Malian citizen Mamadou Dembele thought he was on his way to realizing his dream of reaching Europe but the boat taking him towards Italy along with 46 other migrants was intercepted by the Tunisian coastguard off Sfax.

Now he finds himself in the desert in southern Tunisia after being taken there with other African migrants by Tunisian security forces.

Dembele said he came to Tunisia five months ago, aiming to make an attempt to reach Europe, and does not want to go back to Algeria from where he crossed the border illegally.

“I stayed in Algeria for six months to try to get to Europe from there, but that didn’t work. So I came to try my luck from Tunisia instead,” he said.

“There is conflict in Mali — that’s why I left. I wanted to get to Europe to work so I could help my family.”

Apart from those forcibly taken into the desert, dozens of migrants, fearing reprisals from angry locals, flocked to Sfax railway station to leave for other Tunisian cities.

“The day before yesterday I was sleeping. I don’t know who it was, but Arabs came into the house and ransacked the place,” Souleymane Diallo, 28, from Guinea said while in custody in Sfax on Thursday.

“I got here yesterday at 6:00 am. I want to go to the IOM (International Organization for Migration) and to the embassy of Guinea-Conakry” in Tunis, he said.

“I just want to go back to my own country. That’s my destination.”