Rappers BigFlo & Oli have announced that they are ” postponing ” a concert scheduled for Wednesday evening in Carthage, Tunisia, three days after the cancellation of a concert by Gims to protest against the situation of migrants stuck between Tunisia and Libya. ” We talked a lot between brothers. We don’t want to do the show in Carthage tonight knowing the current situation “, write the rappers on their Instagram account. ” We postpone the concert “, scheduled for the Carthage International Festival, they add, without further specifying the reasons for the cancellation.
They say they are ” really sorry ” for ” the 4,000 fans present in Tunisia ” who had bought a ticket. “ We were happy to meet you (…), we promise we will come to see you ”, assured the duo. On Sunday, rapper Gims announced the cancellation of a concert scheduled for August 11 in Tunisia, in Djerba, in order to protest against ” the unbearable distress ” in which the migrants find themselves.
UN chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday denounced the ” expulsions ” of sub-Saharan African migrants from Tunisia to the Libyan and Algerian borders, where they find themselves abandoned in the middle of the desert. ” Several have died on the border with Libya and hundreds, including pregnant women and children, remain reportedly trapped in extremely harsh conditions with little access to water and food,” s a spokesperson for Antonio Guterres, Farhan Haq, protested.
The UN called last week for ” urgent solutions ” to save the hundreds of refugees and migrants. Many of these African migrants were driven out of the Tunisian city of Sfax (center-east), the main point of departure for illegal emigration to Europe, following clashes that claimed the life of a Tunisian on 3 July.
A tense situation in the country
Tunisian authorities on Thursday refuted UN and media reports ” on deportation operations ” of African migrants on the borders with Libya to the east and Algeria to the west, in a statement by the Minister of Interior. ” What has been published by certain international organizations and especially the statement by the UN spokesperson (of August 1) is characterized by inaccuracies, even untruths,” Minister Kamel Feki told the local news agency Tap. , according to an official statement issued Thursday.
According to a new report provided Thursday by humanitarian sources in Tripoli, 24 bodies, including women and children, have been discovered in the Libyan desert since the beginning of July.
” The allegations about the deportation operations are unfounded,” said the Tunisian minister on Thursday, calling for ” verification of the authenticity of the information before publishing it, given the negative repercussions ” on the security forces. These ” spare no effort to rescue and save migrants on land and sea borders “, he pleaded, assuring that ” 15,327 migrants, 95% of whom ” come from sub-Saharan Africa,
” The case is being handled in accordance with Tunisian law and international treaties ” and ” the Tunisian state is not responsible for what happens outside its borders “, he insisted. The minister also affirmed Tunisia’s ” full respect and commitment ” to human rights, highlighting the work of organizations such as the Tunisian Red Crescent (CRT) to assist migrants.
The press release from the ministry is accompanied by a montage of photos and some filmed images, without indication of date or location, showing the National Guard and the Red Crescent distributing water and food to African migrants. After the death, on July 3 in Sfax (center-east) of a Tunisian during a fight with migrants, at least ” 1,200 sub-Saharan nationals ” were ” expelled ” by the Tunisian security forces and deposited in areas inhospitable at the Libyan and Algerian borders, according to the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW). Sfax has become this year the main point of departure for illegal emigration to Europe.
Subsequently, the CRT sheltered, on July 12, around 630 people recovered from Ras Jedir, a buffer zone separating Tunisia and Libya, according to NGOs, including HRW. He also took care of around 200 others and returned to the Algerian border. But, in the following weeks, several media including AFP documented with testimonies from migrants, Libyan border guards, and NGOs, that 350 people (including 12 pregnant women and 65 children) were still stranded in Ras Jedir.
Hundreds of migrants also continue to flow into Libya from Tunisia at Al’Assah, 40 km south of Ras Jedir, wandering without food or water until Libyan guards come to their help, noted an AFP team on the spot last Sunday.
