Greene County Democrat

Tag: President Kais Saied

  • Newswire: New pact with Tunisian leader aims to combat deadly migration across the Mediterranean Sea

    African migrants in crowded boat
    July 17, 2023 (GIN) – A memorandum of understanding was signed this week between the European Union and Tunisia to combat irregular migration that has lead most recently to the deaths of 29 migrants from impoverished or war-torn countries seeking a better life in Europe.
     
    The memorandum calls for a “strategic and comprehensive partnership” that will also boost economic ties between the bloc and the North African country, which lies on a major route for migrants and refugees travelling to Europe.
     
    The document, signed by European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on one side and Tunisian President Kais Saied on the other. It comes as the number of migrants and refugees departing from Tunisia and trying to reach Europe has significantly increased in recent months.
     
    The Tunisian leader described “inhuman migration”, which he blamed on criminal networks.
     
    After a visit last month by the three European leaders, a financial package was approved that includes a 10-million euro ($11 million) program to boost exchanges of students and 65 million euros ($73 million) in EU funding to modernize Tunisian schools.
     
    Both sides also agreed to cooperate on border management. Von der Leyen pledged 100 million euros ($112 million) for those efforts – a figure she had already announced on the leaders’ previous visit.
     
    Meanwhile, as of Friday, the Italian interior ministry counted more than 75,000 migrants who had arrived by boat on the Italian coast since the beginning of the year compared to about 31,900 in the same period last year.
     
    Yasmine Akrimi, a researcher at the Brussels International Center, criticized the memorandum as an attempt at “reshaping African mobility”.
     
    The EU has been trying to achieve this deal for decades, Akrimi said in an interview with Al Jazeera. “Italy wants to consider Tunisia as what they call a safe third country – meaning that everyone who passes through Tunisia can eventually be relocated back to Tunisia.”
     
    Are migrants being used as political pawns? asked the host of the podcast Inside Story . “Kais Saied hoped to clinch a one-billion-dollar EU bailout. And in return, stem the rising migration to Europe.”
     

     

  • Newswire: Racist attacks and ‘fake facts’ on videos spark African migrants flight from Tunisia

    African migrants leaving Tunisia

     

    Mar. 13, 2023 (GIN) – A campaign targeting Black migrants in the north African nation of Tunisia has escalated with misleading videos on social media. The African Union has responded – cancelling a major conference on illicit financial flows due to take place in in Tunisia this month.
     
    The misleading videos repeated remarks by President Kais Saied who called migration a “plot” to change the country’s profile from Black to Arab.
     
    But according to Reality Check and BBC Monitoring, nearly all the videos that claim to show African migrants in Tunisia were actually filmed elsewhere.
     
    One of the videos, with millions of views reads, in Arabic: “Tunisia under occupation.” Another says “Tunisia has become the kingdom of Africans.” While the video purports to be filmed in Tunisia, a Senegalese flag can be seen and the language heard in Wolof, a Senegalese language.
     
    There are an estimated 20,000 sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia, which has a population of 12 million.
     
    Tunisian rights researcher Kenza ben Azouz told the BBC: “This is not a matter of legality or illegality. It’s about being Black in this country”. Black Tunisians, who make up around 10-15% of the country’s population, suffer discrimination because of the color of their skin, she said. 
     
    Hundreds of people have protested In Tunis to denounce Saied’s speech, accusing him of racist comments against refugees while Ivory Coast, Mali and Guinea have begun repatriating their citizens from Tunisia.
     
    Tunisia has rejected responsibility for the racial violence, saying it only sought to ensure “laws of the land are respected to avoid spreading chaos”.
     
    According to Lawyers Without Borders, an advocacy group, approximately 800 sub-Saharan Africans have been arrested. Others have been evicted from homes they had rented, or have lost their jobs.