Recent reports from Sally Hayden in Tunisia for this newspaper paint a grim picture of the plight of displaced people in a country which has become a major waystation on what the United Nations calls “the deadliest migration route in the world”. Those fleeing war, drought, famine and societal collapse in sub-Saharan Africa face racially-charged abuse and discrimination from authorities in the north African state, which is now the main departure point for migrant passage across the central Mediterranean to Europe. Recent data shows a shift in Tunisia’s role in migration, from being a country of origin to a country of transit.
In response, the EU is ramping up financial support for the country’s president, Kais Saied, in a bid to reduce the flow of people attempting the perilous passage across the sea. But this raises serious questions about whether the values which the EU claims to uphold are being ignored or betrayed in the process.
Saied’s regime has imprisoned members of the opposition and initiated a wave of repression and racist violence against black Africans, who are accused of being part of a “criminal plot” to change the country’s demographics. The allegation echoes the “great replacement theory” popular among the European far right.
Voter concerns over migration were reflected in the weekend visit of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to Lampedusa, the Italian island where large numbers of migrants landed in recent days, leading to calls by Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni for Europe to assist Italy. In July, von der Leyen, Meloni and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte posed for photos alongside Saied when announcing €105 million in EU aid to stem migration by clamping down on people smuggling and strengthening border management, plus €600 million in support for the country’s crisis-ridden economy.
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Meloni called at the weekend for implementation of the deal with Tunisia to be accelerated to stem migrant flows
Tunisia has been condemned by human rights groups for dumping migrants in desert border areas with Libya to the west and Algeria to the north. In July more than 1,000 black Africans were reportedly rounded up by security forces and left on the Libyan border, where dozens are said to have died. Pictures of the bodies of Ivorian woman Fati Dosso and her six-year-old daughter Marie prompted international outrage.
In the European Parliament this week, the new agreement was assailed from across the political spectrum for externalising EU border controls with no regard for human rights. The criticisms are hard to contest: claims by von der Leyen and other senior figures to stand for democratic values and against autocracy ring hollow on the evidence of what is going on in Tunisia.