Tunisia is facing an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as the main gateway for people fleeing poverty and armed conflict in Africa and the Middle East.
At least ten Tunisian migrants were missing, and one of them died, after their boat sank off the coast of Tunisia during an attempt to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, announced Sunday, July 9 a judicial official. Tunisian coast guards rescued 11 passengers from the boat, Faouzi Masmoudi, a judge in the city of Sfax, told Reuters.
Tunisia is facing an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as the main gateway for people fleeing poverty and armed conflict in Africa and the Middle East, in search of a better life in Europe.
The latest tragedy brings the number of people dead or missing off the Tunisian coast in the first half of 2023 to more than six hundred, a number well above previous years, according to figures compiled by Reuters.
The human rights NGO, Human Rights Watch, urged Tunisia on Friday to end the “collective expulsions” of African migrants in the desert, where they are left to their fate.
Hundreds of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa are in a very precarious situation in a desert area in southern Tunisia near the Libyan border, after being driven out in recent days from the city of Sfax (center-east) against a backdrop of strong tensions with the local population who demanded their departure, according to testimonies collected by Agence France-Presse.
A surge of violence fell on Tuesday and Wednesday on these migrants after one of them killed a resident during a brawl.
This incident set fire to the powder in a city whose inhabitants proclaimed their exasperation with the presence of irregular migrants. A large number settled there awaiting an illegal crossing to Italy on board makeshift boats.
