Facing uproar, Tunisian president denies he’s stoking racism
1 year, 9 months ago

Facing uproar, Tunisian president denies he’s stoking racism

Associated Press  

TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia’s president has rejected accusations that he is stoking anti-Black racism, saying that he has sub-Saharan African friends and that his comments last month targeting migrants were misinterpreted by his enemies. President Kais Saied drew international criticism and concern with those comments, in which he ordered a crackdown on sub-Saharan African migrants and lashed out at a perceived plot to erase Tunisia’s identity. On Wednesday evening, at a meeting with the president of Guinea-Bissau, Saied denounced what he called a “malicious interpretation’’ of his comments, and issued a “blatant denial’’ that he is racist. The World Bank earlier this week advised its staff that it was temporarily pausing its Country Partnership Framework with Tunisia — one aspect of its work with the North African country, citing its “core values of inclusion, respect and anti-racism in all shapes and forms.” More than 100 migrants are camped outside the International Organization for Migration office in Tunisia.

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History of this topic

Families of jailed Tunisians to urge ICC to probe migrant abuse: Report
3 months ago

Families of jailed Tunisians to urge ICC to probe migrant abuse: Report

Al Jazeera  

Lawyer leading case says International Criminal Court must act with ‘full force … to protect those most vulnerable’. Relatives of jailed Tunisian opposition figures plan to file a submission to the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged rights violations against migrants and refugees in the country, The Guardian newspaper reports. The move planned for next week by the group, which …

Tunisian parliament gets defensive after Black refugee treatment criticism
1 year, 4 months ago

Tunisian parliament gets defensive after Black refugee treatment criticism

Al Jazeera  

Tunis, Tunisia – The image of Ivorian woman Fati Dosso and her six-year-old daughter Marie, found dead in the Libyan desert from apparent dehydration after being expelled from Tunisia, continues to prove problematic for the European Commission and Tunisia’s President Kais Saied. While anger grows within parts of the European Parliament and across Europe over Tunisia’s brutal treatment of Black …

Why is Tunisia expelling Black refugees?
1 year, 5 months ago

Why is Tunisia expelling Black refugees?

Al Jazeera  

Thousands have been expelled from Tunisia as tensions between local residents and Black migrants and refugees grow. In early July, Tunisian authorities forcibly expelled hundreds of Black migrants and refugees from Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city. Al Jazeera found many of them days later without food or water, wandering through the desert “no man’s land” on the border between Tunisia and …

Black Tunisians lie low as violence against Black people worsens
1 year, 5 months ago

Black Tunisians lie low as violence against Black people worsens

Al Jazeera  

Tunisia has a complex history with Black migrants and refugees, as well as its own native Black population. Tunis, Tunisia – In February, Tunisian President Kais Saied warned his country of a plan to change Tunisia’s “demographic make-up”, to turn it into “just another African country that doesn’t belong to the Arab and Islamic nations any more”. And now, with …

HRW urges Tunisia to suspend expulsions of African refugees
1 year, 5 months ago

HRW urges Tunisia to suspend expulsions of African refugees

Al Jazeera  

Hundreds of people were rounded up from Sfax and driven to the militarised Tunisia-Libya border zone this week. A global human rights group has urged Tunisia to stop its expulsion of sub-Saharan African refugees and migrants and for humanitarian services to be provided to those languishing at the North African country’s border with Libya. “Not only is it unconscionable to …

Biden urged to halt US aid to Tunisia over ‘authoritarian turn’
1 year, 7 months ago

Biden urged to halt US aid to Tunisia over ‘authoritarian turn’

Al Jazeera  

Nearly two dozen advocates, academics and ex-officials also call on US to impose sanctions against President Kais Saied. Washington, DC – Academics, rights advocates and former diplomats in the United States have called on President Joe Biden to suspend aid to Tunisia and impose sanctions on its leaders to halt what they called the North African country’s “dramatic turn” towards …

It was not Saied who introduced anti-Black racism to Tunisia
1 year, 9 months ago

It was not Saied who introduced anti-Black racism to Tunisia

Al Jazeera  

But the country cannot eliminate this old societal ill and mend its relations with its sub-Saharan neighbours under his divisive and hateful regime. He then went on to embrace the white supremacist “great replacement” conspiracy theory and allege that immigration from sub-Saharan African countries is aimed at changing Tunisia’s demographic composition. On social media, racist accounts moved to amplify Saied’s …

Anti-Black racism surfaces in an African country. Critics are blaming the president for it
1 year, 9 months ago

Anti-Black racism surfaces in an African country. Critics are blaming the president for it

CNN  

Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Henda Chennaoui, a coordinator at Tunisia’s Anti-Fascist Front, told CNN that Saied’s comments and racist social media posts caused a historic “shift” in the country’s discourse that would be hard to reverse. The UN’s International …

What’s behind the violent racist attacks in Tunisia?
1 year, 9 months ago

What’s behind the violent racist attacks in Tunisia?

Al Jazeera  

The Take examines the rise of racial tensions in Tunisia. The wave of racist violence sweeping Tunisia is unlike anything in recent memory. The attacks follow a speech by Tunisia’s President Kais Saied accusing African migrants of conspiring to make Tunisia more African and less Arab. In this episode: Alpha Turay, a refugee from Sierra Leone living in Tunisia Fadil …

Are Black people welcome in Tunisia?
1 year, 9 months ago

Are Black people welcome in Tunisia?

Al Jazeera  

On Thursday, March 9 at 19:30 GMT: Activists in Tunisia are raising alarm over an increase in racist violence and hate speech against sub-Saharan African migrants and refugees who reside in the country. While activists remain skeptical of his announcements, the rhetoric, critics say, is similar to the “great replacement theory”; a popular conspiracy theory among nationalists used to stoke …

Tunisia offers new measures for migrants after racist abuse
1 year, 9 months ago

Tunisia offers new measures for migrants after racist abuse

Associated Press  

TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia’s government is seeking to allay growing international concerns about a surge of discrimination against sub-Saharan Africans, as the EU warned Monday against hate speech targeting people fleeing conflict and poverty. The tensions erupted after Tunisian President Kais Saied lashed out at migrants last month and inveighed against a perceived plot to erase Tunisia’s identity. After concerns …

African Union postpones Tunisia meeting after racist attacks
1 year, 9 months ago

African Union postpones Tunisia meeting after racist attacks

Al Jazeera  

The conference on fighting illicit financial transactions in Africa scheduled for mid-March has been delayed. The African Union has postponed a conference that was due to take place in Tunisia this month, Bloomberg reports, after criticism over a government crackdown and racial attacks against sub-Saharan nationals. An African Union spokeswoman told the news agency by text message on Monday that …

Sub-Saharan Africans recount Tunisia ‘hell’ amid crackdown
1 year, 9 months ago

Sub-Saharan Africans recount Tunisia ‘hell’ amid crackdown

Al Jazeera  

Racial tensions are spinning out of control as many sub-Saharan Africans prepare to leave the country. African countries have launched repatriation schemes after Tunisia’s President Kais Saied launched a crackdown against undocumented sub-Saharan nationals, whom he accused of crimes and plotting to change the country’s demographic makeup. They have prepared a special prison for sub-Saharan Africans, when they catch you …

What you need to know about Tunisia’s anti-racism protests
1 year, 9 months ago

What you need to know about Tunisia’s anti-racism protests

Al Jazeera  

President Kais Saied says ‘hordes’ of sub-Saharan migrants are causing crime and pose a demographic threat to the North African country, leading to accusations of racism and demonstrations. At a meeting of the National Security Council on Tuesday, Saied said “hordes” of sub-Saharan migrants were causing crime and posed a demographic threat to Tunisia. “The undeclared goal of the successive …

African Union condemns Tunisia’s ‘hate speech’ against migrants
1 year, 10 months ago

African Union condemns Tunisia’s ‘hate speech’ against migrants

Al Jazeera  

President Kais Saied claimed migration from sub-Saharan Africa was aimed at changing his country’s demographic makeup. The African Union has criticised Tunisia and urged it to avoid “racialised hate speech” following President Kais Saied’s comments directed at migrants from elsewhere on the continent. “The Chairperson of the African Union Commission H. E. Moussa Faki Mahamat strongly condemns the shocking statement …

Amid crackdown on dissent, Tunisian leader turns on migrants
1 year, 10 months ago

Amid crackdown on dissent, Tunisian leader turns on migrants

Associated Press  

TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisian authorities on Thursday said they have arrested dozens of migrants near the Algerian border, two days after Tunisia’s increasingly authoritarian leader claimed there’s a plot to erase his country’s identity by bringing in sub-Saharan Africans. President Kais Saied said Tuesday that “urgent measures” were needed to address the entry of irregular immigrants from sub-Saharan countries, “with …

Tunisia’s Saied says migration aimed at changing demography
1 year, 10 months ago

Tunisia’s Saied says migration aimed at changing demography

Al Jazeera  

Rights activists criticise the president’s comments, say they are intended to ‘create an imaginary enemy’. President Kais Saied has alleged that undocumented immigration from sub-Saharan African countries is aimed at changing Tunisia’s demographic composition, drawing criticism from human rights activists. “The undeclared goal of the successive waves of illegal immigration is to consider Tunisia a purely African country that has …

Tunisia arrests more prominent critics of President Saied
1 year, 10 months ago

Tunisia arrests more prominent critics of President Saied

Al Jazeera  

Detentions come amid a wave of arrests targeting politicians and other critics of the government. Tunisian police have arrested two more prominent opponents of President Kais Saied and the head of a radio station that has broadcast criticism of the president. Police raided the house of Noureddine Bhiri, a senior official in the biggest opposition party Ennahdha and a prominent …

Tunisia opposition says hit by politically motivated probes
1 year, 11 months ago

Tunisia opposition says hit by politically motivated probes

The Hindu  

The main coalition against Tunisian President Kais Saied said Tuesday his administration was using the judiciary to close down opposition to his rule, after several inquiries were opened against its members. Mr. Chebbi said that any "Tunisian who has an independent opinion or is part of the opposition is a criminal as far as Kais Saied is concerned". A lawyer …

Tunisian president must be held accountable by US: Advocacy group
2 years ago

Tunisian president must be held accountable by US: Advocacy group

Al Jazeera  

Tunisian United Network says high-ranking officials have committed crimes that could lead to sanctions. Tunis, Tunisia – A Tunisian advocacy group has called on United States President Joe Biden to confront Tunisian President Kais Saied during the latter’s visit to Washington for human rights abuses it says were carried out by high-ranking Tunisian officials over the past year. The US-based …

Ukraine Acknowledges Racist Treatment Of Africans Fleeing Russian Invasion
2 years, 9 months ago

Ukraine Acknowledges Racist Treatment Of Africans Fleeing Russian Invasion

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING Days into the massive refugee crisis created by Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Ukrainian government has publicly acknowledged that African immigrants seeking to flee the violence have faced racist, disparate treatment compared to white Ukrainians. On Tuesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted that Russia’s invasion had “affected Ukrainians and non-citizens in many devastating ways.” “Africans seeking …

Nigerian Government Condemns Racist Treatment Of Africans Fleeing Ukraine
2 years, 9 months ago

Nigerian Government Condemns Racist Treatment Of Africans Fleeing Ukraine

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING As hundreds of thousands of people escape Ukraine amid Russia’s attack on its soil, Africans fleeing the violence have reported facing racist, disparate treatment compared to white Ukrainians. On Monday, the Nigerian government called out the “unfortunate reports” of Ukrainian police “refusing to allow Nigerians to board buses and trains” headed toward Ukraine’s border with Poland. With …

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