Tunisia dismantles sub-Saharan migrant camps and forcibly deports some

By Tarek Amara

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian authorities have dismantled makeshift camps housing 7,000 sub-Saharan African migrants and begun forcibly deporting some of them, a senior official told Reuters on Saturday, as the country grapples with an unprecedented migrant crisis.

Houssem Eddine Jebabli, an official in the National Guard, told Reuters a number of migrants was arrested for violence during the ongoing operation. He said their forced repatriation began Friday night and the authorities are also seeking to voluntarily repatriate thousands more.

He said the number forcibly deported was significant, without specifying how many, and that bladed weapons, including knives and swords, were seized.

Tunisia's government said about 20,000 of migrants live in tents in forests in southern towns, such as Amra and Jbeniana, after authorities prevented them from travelling across the Mediterranean.

Migrants have frequently clashed with local residents, who want them deported from their area.

Local human rights groups have criticised the authorities, accusing them of racist rhetoric, incitement against migrants and condemning a crackdown that led to the imprisonment of activists who helped African migrants.

President Kais Saied said in 2023 the arrival of thousands of illegal migrants from Sub-Saharan African countries was a "conspiracy to change the country's demographic make up".

That prompted the African Union to condemn what it called Tunisia’s "hate speech" against migrants, an allegation Saied said was unfair.

Tunisia has earned praise from Italian authorities in recent months for its progress in stemming the flow of thousands of migrants from sub-Sahran Africa who are trying to reach Europe in boats.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; editing by Barbara Lewis)