Cross in memory of the 72 migrants who died on February 26, after the sinking of their boat off the coast of Calabria, in southern Italy. TIZIANA FABI / AFP
The tragedy took place after the sinking of the boat off Sfax on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.
Fourteen migrants from sub-Saharan African countries drowned and fifty-four others were rescued after the sinking of the boat carrying them off the coast of Tunisia, the coast guards announced on Thursday.
The boat carrying these migrants sank off Sfax (center-east) overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. “Fourteen bodies of migrants“were drafted and”54 other migrants“said the spokesperson for the Tunisian coast guard on his Facebook page.
Tensions
This shipwreck comes at a time when many migrants from sub-Saharan African countries are seeking to leave Tunisia after Tunisian President Kais Saied’s remarks against illegal immigration. On February 21, Kais Saied affirmed that the presence in Tunisia of “hordesof illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa was a source ofviolence and crime» and came under a «criminal enterprise” aiming to “change the demographic composition” from the country.
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After this speech, condemned by NGOs as “racist and hatefulnationals of sub-Saharan African countries reported an upsurge in attacks against them and rushed by the dozens to their embassies to be repatriated. According to official figures, Tunisia has more than 21,000 nationals from sub-Saharan African countries, the majority in an irregular situation, ie less than 0.2% of a total population of around 12 million.
Tunisia, a North African country with certain stretches of coastline located less than 150 km from the Italian island of Lampedusa, very regularly records attempts to leave migrants for Italy. According to official Italian figures, more than 32,000 migrants, including 18,000 Tunisians, arrived in Italy illegally from Tunisia in 2022.
“Brothers”
In an apparent concern for appeasement after the outcry caused by his remarks, Kais Saied affirmed during an interview on Wednesday with the President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was stopping over in Tunis, that the Africans present in Tunisia were “brothers“, according to a video released by the Tunisian presidency.
Stating that the purpose of his speech was to uphold the “Tunisian legality concerning foreigners» and to prevent any «jurisdiction parallel to state jurisdictions“, he rejected the”malicious words” of those who “wanted to interpret the speech as they wish to harm Tunisia“. “This situation concerning Africans cannot be interpreted by malevolent tongues, as they have been doing in recent days, as racism. What are they talking about ? they wander“, he added.
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