Tunisia: Kaïs Saïed wants "urgent measures" against sub-Saharan migrants
Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed, December 14, 2022. © Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images via AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Tunisian President Kais Saied violently attacked sub-Saharan migrants during a meeting of his National Security Council on Tuesday (February 21st).
He announced "
urgent measures
" to deal with a phenomenon whose aim, according to his extremely harsh words reported in a press release, is to transform the identity of his country.
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The arrival in Tunisia of what
Kaïs Saied
calls "
the uncontrolled masses
" from the south have one objective, he said: to transform Tunisia
into
an "
African country only
" and to snatch it "
from the Arab-Muslim nations
".
“
Criminal enterprise
”
It would be the consequence, according to him, of a “
criminal enterprise hatched at the beginning of this century to change the demographic composition of Tunisia
”.
He accused "
parties
", without specifying which ones, of having "
received a large sum of money
" after the 2011 revolution to "
settle
" sub-Saharan migrants in his country.
President Saïed then raged against the “
violence
”, “
crimes
” and “
unacceptable acts
” allegedly caused by immigration.
Finally, he called for action “
at all levels, diplomatic, security and military
” and for “
strict application of the law
” on foreigners and the illegal crossing of borders.
Diatribe
This diatribe came just days after some 20 Tunisian NGOs denounced "
the rise of hateful and racist speech
" in Tunisia.
And less than a month after the visit of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who had promised to welcome more African workers for its agriculture and industry, if and only if Tunisia committed itself to "reducing irregular
immigration
".
► To read also: These young Sub-Saharans who want to innovate in Tunisia
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