Deadly boat crossings surge amid Tunisia's crackdown on African migrants

The number of Africans in Tunisia undertaking risky journeys to reach Italy in the wake of a crackdown instigated by racially charged statements by Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has increased significantly in recent weeks, often with deadly consequences.

In the last 14 days, around 29 African migrants drowned after two boats sank off the southern city of Sfax. Separately, five other boats capsized off the Tunisian shore leaving 67 missing and nine dead.

On Friday, seventy-four migrants from African nations were intercepted off the southeast coast while trying to head to Italy, the Tunisian National Guard spokesman said.

The latest string of migrant tragedies comes after a spike in ship journeys, with mostly African nationals departing from the Tunisian coast to cross the Mediterranean to Italy amid a detention campaign by Tunisian authorities of undocumented immigrants.

"Most Africans in Tunisia are looking for a way to leave the country as racist attacks and arrests continue"

Over 3,000 sub-Saharan migrants have been detained since the Tunisian president accused Africans in a February speech of causing a crime wave in the country and representing a demographic threat to the nation.

The dramatic increase in deaths from migrant shipwrecks in the Sfax region has led to a shortage of space in morgues, with the regional director of health warning last week that the challenge will only get worse as migrant flows increase during the summer months.

According to statistics from the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), irregular crossings carrying more than 14,000 people were prevented during the first three months of this year, compared with 2,900 during the same period of 2022. Over 130 have died or gone missing off the local coast in the first quarter of 2023, the majority of them in March.

With Tunisia struggling to cope with a worsening financial crisis and ongoing political turbulence, discrimination towards black foreigners has been mounting since the Tunisian leader made anti-migration comments in February.

Saied’s call for “urgent measures" to stop "illegal" migration has been widely seen as a way to distract attention from his increasingly authoritarian rule and the country’s economic woes.

Most Africans in Tunisia are looking for a way to leave the country as racist attacks and arrests continue. Hundreds have lost their jobs and housing overnight as authorities urged employers to fire them and landlords to evict them.

Many are also living in precarious conditions, such as the migrants and asylum seekers camped outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) building in Tunis. For more than two weeks, they have been demonstrating in front of the UN facility to demand evacuation to safer countries in light of the deteriorating conditions in Tunisia and the increased harassment black Africans have faced.

“We are out in the streets, we have no food, no water, no toilet, absolutely nothing. We can’t keep living this way,” Wizz Melvin, a 25-year-old Sierra Leonean refugee, told The New Arab.

He and his family have been sleeping rough since the day after the president’s speech, first outside the headquarters of the UN’s International Migration Organisation (IOM) then in front of the UNHCR’s office, after the landlord forced them out of their apartment and Tunisian youths robbed their belongings.

On the same day, the 25-year-old was fired from the tyre manufacturing company he was working for, and his boss refused to pay the wages he was owed.

Melvin complained about ongoing physical aggression and racist abuse directed at African migrants camped out near the UNHCR’s HQ, with police standing by and doing nothing. Some local passers-by even take pictures and record videos mocking them. “We are dying here day by day. Tunisia is not safe for black people,” the young man said. “We need evacuation”.

Camp residents spoke about other fellow refugees and migrants who have rushed to Sfax to leave by sea for Italy in recent weeks, with several stopped by the Tunisian coastguard while others are thought to be dead.

"We are dying here day by day. Tunisia is not safe for black people. We need evacuation"

While some West African countries repatriated hundreds of their citizens last month, many African nationals are still stuck in Tunisia. Those who can afford it opt for smuggler crossings to be transported to Europe.

UN data shows that at least 12,000 migrants who arrived in Italy this year left from Tunisia, compared with 1,300 in the same period last year. Dozens more continue to die or be rescued from sinking ships on a weekly basis.

Awadhya Hasan Amine, 30, a Sudanese refugee, has lived in Tunisia for four years after fleeing the Darfur region and then Libya with her husband. The couple has been staying at the makeshift camp outside the UN refugee agency since a group of Tunisians threw rocks at their modest shelter in Tunis’ district of Raoued following President Saied’s remarks.

Amine has regularly experienced racist harassment, including local people telling her “you are dirty” or “what are you doing in my country?”

“We have wars in our countries. We cannot go back home. Where should we go?” the young woman asked. “If I’m not evacuated, my only option left will be crossing the sea then,” she told The New Arab.

Aboubakasoumah, from Guinea, is only 16. He has been in Tunisia for just three months and has lived on the streets since the police raided his building in the capital’s Ariana neighbourhood and chased sub-Saharan immigrants residing there.

A mob of local people assaulted Aboubakasoumah with his flatmates, took their phones, passports and money, forcing him to flee to the refugee camp.

“We cannot live in these conditions, without protection,” the teenager told The New Arab. “All we need is evacuation”.

In the face of inaction from international organisations, African nationals in Tunisia remain vulnerable to perilous boat crossings as they are pushed to endanger their lives in the search for safety.

Alessandra Bajec is a freelance journalist currently based in Tunis.

Follow her on Twitter: @AlessandraBajec