In Conakry, 49 Guineans were repatriated from Tunisia via a special flight set up by the Guinean authorities on March 1, 2023. A return following waves of aggression against sub-Saharan migrants on Tunisian soil, following statements by the country’s president, Kais Saied. Report at the airport.
They are 49: women and their husbands, children, sick people… The first Guineans repatriated from Tunisia landed on March 1, 2023, in Conakry. When they got off their plane, specially chartered by the authorities, they were welcomed by the president of the transition, Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya.
They were able to return to their country, a week after the virulent remarks of the Tunisian head of state Kaรฏs Saรฏed on migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Remarks deemed racist by human rights organizations.
At Conakry airport, the sirens of the presidential motorcade first sounded. And then, just before 8 p.m., the roar of the plane, hitting the Guinean flag. Returnees disembark. โ I am very happy to return to my country. I really needed it , slips Mamaissata, with her three children. We were assaulted there. Sometimes they come, they knock on our door and they run away, just to scare us. We don’t go out, even to get food. When you go out, you are hit with stones. We are told: โ Leave the country! Tunisia is for Tunisians! โ
Falikou spent six years in Tunisia. From this life, he was able to keep a few suitcases and a quilt slipped into a shopping bag: โ Any situation that I could do, they took it away from me again for three days. They broke my house. We slept me, my wife and my children, we slept in the street for three days. It was so difficultโฆ โ
Foreign Minister Morissanda Kouyatรฉ made the trip with the returnees: โย We are putting an airlift in place. This is the first convoy that has come and there will be more convoys until all the Guineans return home. We applied exactly the doctrine of the Head of State: a Guinean abroad is equal to all the people of Guinea. “
Before leaving the airport, Falikou sighs: โย My daughter has a Tunisian birth certificate. Despite that, we couldn’t stay.”