Migrants face misery in Tunisia. Rights activists fear that the EU deal will make things even worse
Migrants in Tunisia’s port city of Sfax who are aiming to make Europe their new home are now sharing the burden and the blame for escalating tensions deeply tinged with racism amid the fears of European leaders who are trying to stanch the numbers of p...
TUNIS, Tunisia — Migrants in Tunisia’s port city of Sfax who are aiming to make Europe their new home are now sharing the burden and the blame for escalating tensions deeply tinged with racism, amid the fears of European leaders who are trying to stanch the numbers of people arriving at their shores.
The antagonism that exploded in recent weeks in Sfax between Tunisians and mainly Black sub-Saharan migrants is widely seen as a turning point in how this North African nation deals with migration.
European leaders are offering millions to Tunisia amid the abuses, and activists fear a migration summit in Rome on Sunday will pursue an anti-migrant vision that puts the onus on Africa to keep Africans out of Europe.
Hundreds of migrants have drowned at sea trying to reach Italy in fragile boats, but now migrants awaiting their chance to cross the Mediterranean cower in fear, some beaten or bused by authorities to new destinations, others dumped in the desert.
Musa Khalid from Congo was among a group of migrants expelled from Tunisia and found by Libyan border guards huddling in a barren zone last weekend. He said that Tunisian officials took their belongings and money before transferring them out of the Tunisian port city of Sfax and dropping them off without food or water.
“As we tried to enter Tunisia again, they beat us badly. They broke my hand and hit my head," he told the Associated Press near the Al Assa border point in Libya, holding up a wrist wrapped in cloth. «We
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