By Oyintari Ben
After President Kais Saied’s incendiary words last week, two West African nations are returning their citizens to Tunisia.
Mr Saied blamed “traitors working for foreign countries” for the movement, calling it a “plot” to alter the nation’s demographics.
Since then, numerous immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa have been held in detention.
Ivory Coast and Guinea announced they would deploy specially chartered aircraft to bring home their citizens.
The AFP news agency quoted Amadou Coulibaly, the government spokesman for the Ivory Coast, stating that saving lives and preventing injuries were of the utmost importance.
According to official data cited by a local rights activist who charged Mr Saied with “inciting hatred” and “racial discrimination against African migrants,” Tunisia had approximately 21,000 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa in 2021.
Mr Saied refuted accusations of racism.
Several immigrants lost their employment and housing overnight due to his remarks. Some claim to have experienced physical attacks.
“These remarks gave so many individuals who already had these racist thoughts a green light,” a student from southern Africa said on the BBC podcast Africa Today.
As a result of others having their “houses set on fire, some beaten up, some harassed, and others verbally humiliated,” she claimed that many people in sub-Saharan Africa were afraid to go outside.
“We suspect some officials are involved in this, so we don’t feel secure approaching them. Some of my Tunisian acquaintances claim that they feel humiliated to be Tunisians in light of the current situation.”
Since then, hundreds of Ivorians and Guineans have applied to be returned to the embassies of their respective nations.
The undeclared objective of the repeated waves of illegal immigration, according to Mr Saied, is to portray Tunisia as a wholly African nation with no ties to the Arab or Islamic states.
The statement was denounced as “shocking” and “racialised hate speech” by the African Union, of which Tunisia is a member.
On Wednesday, Tunisia tennis player Ons Jabeur issued a tweet criticising “discrimination” and appealing for “the right of everyone to live with dignity”.
According to a survey by BBC News Arabic last year, around 80% of Tunisians think racial discrimination is an issue in their nation. This is the highest percentage in the Middle East and North Africa.
