02/23/2023
From Franceâs AFP newswire:
Tunisian Rights Groups Slam Saiedâs âRacistâ Migrant Comments
By AFP â Agence France Presse
February 22, 2023Tunisian rights groups accused on Wednesday President Kais Saied of racism and hate speech after he said âhordesâ of sub-Saharan African migrants were causing crime and posed a demographic threat.
Saied, who has seized almost total power since a dramatic July 2021 move against parliament, had urged his national security council to take âurgent measuresâ to tackle irregular migration.
A statement from his office, decrying âa criminal plot⌠to change Tunisiaâs demographic make-upâ without citing any evidence, has sparked an outcry online.
âHordes of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa are still arriving, with all the violence, crime and unacceptable practices that entails,â Saied told his national security council on Tuesday evening, according to the statement.
Some Tunisians have taken to social media to accuse the president of outright racism and invoking right-wing conspiracy theories.
Advocacy group the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) said Wednesday Saiedâs discourse was âdrowning in racism
And yet, according to announced Biden Administration plans to create a new race on the Census called Middle Eastern & North African, President Saied is no longer white but instead a BIPOC himself.
Itâs also so confusing.
and hatredâ.
âThe president is using the migration crisis⌠to distract attention from economic and social problems,â spokesman Romdhane Ben Amor told AFP.
Perhaps the migration crisis is an economic and social problem for Tunisia?
⌠Many irregular migrants from the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and Guinea work badly paid, unofficial jobs to get by and save up for attempts to reach Italy.
Ben Amor said Saiedâs latest comments showed he had âobviously and totally caved in to pressure from the Italian authorities to stop the flow of migrantsâ towards European shores.
Back in the old days, Italian supremo Berlusconi used to bribe Libyaâs Colonel Gadaffi to block the flow of sub-Saharan illegal immigrants trying to get to the shores of Tripoli to set off for Italy. This worked fine until Colonel Qafaffeeâs memorable demise.
Italyâs new right wing government under Ms. Meloni dispatched her deputy prime minister to Tunisia to get Tunisia to block the transit of sub-Saharans. It sounds like the deal might include more visas for Tunisian citizens to legally immigrate to Italy.
Tunisian anti-racism group Mnemty said it âcondemns this racist discourse, which incites hatred and aggression, enmity and violence against black sub-Saharan African migrantsâ.
In a joint statement, a coalition of 18 rights groups expressed their âcomplete and unconditional solidarity with sub-Saharan immigrants and their defendersâ.
Mostafa Abdelkebir, president of the Tunisian Observatory of Human Rights, said on Facebook the presidentâs rhetoric does not represent the country âat allâ.
Saiedâs comments did win some praise, including from far-right French former presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, who was fined in 2011 for claiming on TV that âmost drug dealers are black and Arabâ.
On Wednesday, Zemmour said in an online post that countries in North Africa were âthemselves starting to sound the alarmâ over migration.
âNow Tunisia wants to take urgent measures to protect its people,â he said.
Last week, 23 rights groups said the state had already started cracking down on migrants, as well as turning a blind eye to racist âhate speechâ.