Tunisia: the Embassy of Côte d'Ivoire comes to the aid of its nationals
Ivorian nationals wait in front of the Embassy of Côte d'Ivoire in Tunis, February 24, 2023. Abused since the words of Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed about sub-Saharan migrants, they want to be repatriated to Abidjan.
AFP - FETHI BELAID
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Tunisia, the forced departure of Ivorians is difficult after the comments of Kaïs Saïed, on February 21, on the fight against the migratory wave in his country.
Those who gathered Monday, February 27 in front of the Embassy of Côte d'Ivoire, for a possible repatriation, evoke with sadness their years in Tunisia.
Despite years spent here, the majority now find themselves without work or housing, and forced to leave.
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With our correspondent in Tunis,
Lilia Blaise
In front of the Embassy of Côte d'Ivoire in Tunis, Hervé, a 33-year-old Ivorian, says that he has done all the jobs since his arrival in Tunisia five years ago.
Pastry chef, mason... Despite his years of work and several applications for a residence permit, he never had the papers.
And during the weekend of February 25-26,
he was evicted from his accommodation
in the Bhar Lazreg neighborhood.
A situation he does not understand:
“
I have worked with Tunisians, there has never been that problem.
We have never had a Tunisian, a Moroccan or a North African who has been worried in Côte d'Ivoire.
Never.
So I thought that must be the case here.
»
It is with
a bitter taste
that he will leave the country.
“
I made papers to return, because today, I do not know.
Today I was kicked out.
You go to a brother, the brother says to you ''I can't, because I myself have been given two days''.
Well, in the end, where are we going?
“, he laments.
Adeline, 35, carries her two-month-old baby in a blanket.
A child to whom she could not give legal status in Tunisia, for lack of means:
“
I ask for the papers to take the baby's extract, they tell me to pay 700 dinars [approximately 209 euros, Editor's note].
I said openly that I don't have the 700 dinars.
For this, they blocked my baby's papers.
So far my child has no extract.
What am I going to do now?
I prefer to go home to be able to take the child's extract, to be able to send him to school.
»
The embassies of Mali, Cameroon and Burkina Faso have also invited their nationals, via press releases, to approach their chancellery if they wish to return voluntarily.
► Also to listen: Moncef Marzouki: "Kaïs Saïed's statements have damaged Tunisia's image on the continent"
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Tunisia
Ivory Coast
Kais Saied
Immigration
Racism