• Several sub-Saharan nations, including the Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, and Gabon, are assisting their residents.
• The words made by the Tunisian administration were vehemently denounced by the African Union.
• Saied made a different address in which he insisted that there is no racial prejudice in Tunisia.

In response to the contentious comments made by the nation’s president last month regarding illegal immigration into the North African nation, several sub-Saharan nations, including the Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, and Gabon, are assisting their residents to return from Tunisia.

President Kais Saied of Tunisia referred to purported unlawful border crossings from sub-Saharan Africa as a “criminal enterprise established at the beginning of this century to transform the demographic composition of Tunisia” during a meeting of the country’s National Security Council on February 21.

According to Saied, the goal of Tunisia’s ongoing illegal immigration is to make it “just an African country without any belonging to the Arab and Muslim worlds,” and he added that those responsible for this plan are engaged in people trafficking.

The words made by the Tunisian administration were vehemently denounced by the African Union as “racist” and “shocking.”

According to a statement released by the AU on February 24, “The Chairperson reminds all countries, particularly African Union Member States, to honor their obligations under international law and relevant African Union instruments to treat all migrants with dignity, wherever they come from, refrain from radicalized hate speech that could lead to people’s harm, and priorities their safety and human rights.

145 Ivory Coast nationals are scheduled to return home on Saturday, according to the government-run Ivorian News Agency on Friday.

In a report published on Thursday, the official publication L’Essour stated that Mali had likewise announced the voluntary return of its residents from Tunisia. In the meantime, Guinea uploaded pictures of Col. Mamady Doumbouya, the head of the junta, greeting returning Guineans at the Conakry airport on Saturday and last Wednesday.

The Gabonese embassy in Tunisia claimed that many sub-Saharan migrants no longer felt comfortable there and offered to repatriate its citizens; those who wish to do so may do so until Sunday.

On February 23, Saied made a different address in which he insisted that there is no racial prejudice in Tunisia and declared that “our African brothers residing in Tunisia legitimately” are welcome there.

According to state news agency TAP, 58 African migrants were detained by Tunisian authorities on Friday after they allegedly crossed the border and began living there illegally.

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