Tunisia says 900 migrants drowned off its coast this year

by Kaouther LARBI
by Kaouther LARBI
Jul 27, 2023
Tunisian civil protection workers recover the body of an African migrant near the eastern city of Zarzis, on July 16, 2019, after a string of deadly shipwrecks
Tunisian civil protection workers recover the body of an African migrant near the eastern city of Zarzis, on July 16, 2019, after a string of deadly shipwrecks — FATHI NASRI

More than 900 migrants have drowned off Tunisia's coast so far this year as they tried to reach Europe by boat, the North African country's government said Thursday.

In a warning of further tragedy, the United Nations said it was deeply concerned for the safety of hundreds of migrants stranded in Tunisia following their removal to remote parts of the country.

The Tunisian interior ministry said 901 bodies had been recovered by July 20 following maritime accidents in the Mediterranean Sea.

Tunisia has become a major gateway for irregular migrants and asylum-seekers attempting the perilous sea voyages in often rickety boats in the hopes of a better life in Europe.

African migrants plead to be saved from a desert zone between Libya and Tunisia on July 26, 2023, weeks after Tunisian authorities allegedly dumped dozens of them there

The distance between Tunisia's second city of Sfax and Italy's Lampedusa island is only about 130 kilometres (80 miles).

National Guard spokesman Houcem Eddine Jebabli earlier reported that almost 800 migrants had died by late June, and that more than 34,000 had been intercepted and rescued, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa.

Map of Tunisia

Coastguard units had carried out over 1,300 operations -- more than double the number of missions for the same period last year.

The interior ministry said over 550 "organisers and intermediaries" of human trafficking operations had been arrested so far this year.

The Italian government says that more than 80,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean to arrive on its shores so far this year, mostly from Tunisia and war-scarred Libya.

The central Mediterranean has become the world's deadliest migratory route, claiming more than 20,000 lives since 2014, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM).

- Flaring racial tensions -

Tunisian youths block a road and set tyres on fire amid hih tensions in Sfax on July 4, 2023 after the burial of a young Tunisian stabbed to death during a scuffle between residents and migrants from sub-Saharan Africa

As Tunisia has become a growing hub on the migrant route, racial tensions and violence have flared in the country of 12 million which is struggling with a deep economic crisis.

High inflation and unemployment have seen many Tunisians also try to flee their country.

Xenophobic attacks have repeatedly targeted black African migrants and students, fuelled by incendiary rhetoric from President Kais Saied.

Saied -- who rules mostly by decree since a power grab two years ago -- has alleged that "hordes" of sub-Saharan migrants were causing crime and posing a demographic threat to the mainly Arab country.

Migrants from sub-Saharan African countries were found in an uninhabited area near the Tunisia-Libya border where they say they were dumped by authorities

Earlier this month, as Sfax was rocked by racial violence, authorities loaded hundreds of migrants onto buses and left them stranded in remote desert areas near Algeria and Libya.

The United Nations said Thursday that an "unfolding tragedy" was taking place with migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers surviving in dire conditions near the frontiers, while others have been pushed across the borders.

"Among those stranded are women (including some who are pregnant) and children," the IOM and UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said in a joint statement.

"They are stuck in the desert, facing extreme heat, and without access to shelter, food or water. There is an urgent need to provide critical, life-saving humanitarian assistance while urgent, humane solutions are found," the statement said.

Graves are prepared for the bodies of migrants who drowned at sea and were recovered by the Tunisian coast guard, at the Barkallah cemetery in Sfax, on April 28, 2023

"Tragically, there are already reports of the loss of life among the group. UNHCR and IOM are deeply saddened by this situation.

"This unfolding tragedy needs to end."

The UN agencies said saving lives had to be the priority and those stranded must be brought to safety.

Human Rights Watch has said up to 1,200 black Africans were "expelled or forcibly transferred by Tunisian security forces" to the border regions with Libya and Algeria this month.

Many migrants were left without water and food in heat that has topped 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

The UN says authorities loaded hundreds of migrants onto buses and left them stranded in remote desert areas

An AFP team in Libya, at Ras Jedir near the Tunisian border, on Wednesday encountered a group of about 140 African migrants who said they had been dumped there by Tunisian authorities.

"We are dying," said a Nigerian man who wanted to be identified only by his first name, George. "Please, I'm begging you ... Come and rescue us from this place."

The European Union this month offered Tunisia 105 million euros in funding to help it curtail illegal migration and return thousands of migrants to their countries of origin.