The tense climate for sub-Saharans in Tunisia causes a resurgence of migratory departures

Sub-Saharan migrants on a makeshift boat arrested by the Tunisian coast guards off Sfax, October 4, 2022. AFP - FETHI BELAID

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More than 1,000 migrants were intercepted on the night of Thursday March 9 to Friday March 10 as they attempted to leave the Tunisian coast irregularly for Italy.

Among them, a large majority of sub-Saharans, nearly 954, who left the coasts of Sfax and Sousse in the east of the country.

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With our correspondent in Tunis,

The Tunisian authorities have been confronted every week with numerous attempts to leave since February, due to the improvement in weather conditions.

This is what emerges from the latest press releases from the Tunisian National Guard.

No official figures make it possible to make the link between

and a possible resurgence of their departures.

But the latest interceptions show that they are still present in majority against the Tunisian migrants in the makeshift ships leaving for Lampedusa.

In 2022, they represented just under half of the migrants out of the 32,000 who arrived in Italy.

In mid-February 2023, the Alarm Phone emergency call platform reported that 352 sub-Saharan migrants had been rescued by the Tunisian coast guard out of 423 candidates for exile.

Tunisia is under migratory pressure, especially since Italy has multiplied talks with the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs around the limitation of irregular immigration since the beginning of January.

The number of migrant arrivals via the central Mediterranean route jumped 116% in January and February compared to 2022, according to Frontex, the European border guard agency.

According to a press release from the Tunisian National Guard, 14 migrants, also sub-Saharans, were killed when their boat sank on March 9, 54 were rescued.

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