The Tunisian coastguard foiled six attempts to emigrate from the east coast of Tunisia on the night of Saturday 30 to Sunday 31 October and rescued 125 migrants, the Tunisian Interior Ministry announced on Sunday.
“As part of the fight against the phenomenon of irregular migration, units of the National Guard in Monastir, Sfax, Sousse, and Nabeul have foiled six attempts to cross maritime borders and rescued 125 passengers,” the ministry said in a statement.
Among the migrants intercepted, 112 come from sub-Saharan Africa, the origin of the others not having been specified. On October 16, four people were killed and 19 others were missing after a boat carrying migrants, all Tunisians, sank off the east coast of Tunisia, near the governorate of Mahdia. On Sunday, five bodies, including that of a child, were found in the area where the drowning occurred, according to local media.
19,500 migrants intercepted since the start of the year
In recent years, thousands of migrants, from sub-Saharan Africa but also from Tunisia, have sought to emigrate mainly to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, located just 140 kilometers from the east coast of Tunisia. Since the 2011 revolution, Tunisia has experienced a period of political instability and socio-economic crisis which has exacerbated unemployment, especially among the youngest.
According to statistics from the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, over the first nine months of 2021, the Tunisian coastguard intercepted around 19,500 migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean. The trend has accelerated sharply this summer, according to the FTDES, since the establishment last June of a direct line of communication between Rome and Tunis to coordinate the fight against illegal immigration and the exchange of information. According to the FTDES, the coast guard had carried out 42,000 interceptions between 2011 and 2020.
The principle of this “red line” was decided during a visit to Tunisia by the Italian Minister of the Interior Luciana Lamorgese on May 20, on the basis of previous agreements signed to facilitate the refoulement to Tunisia of candidates for office. emigration to Italy. Since the start of the year, nearly 1,300 migrants have been reported missing or drowned in the Mediterranean and nearly 52,000 have reached the Italian coast, according to statistics from the High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) as of October 24.
