AU boss condemns call by Tunisia leader on migrants
By Story Agencies, March 7, 2023The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat strongly condemned the shocking statement issued by top Tunisian authorities targeting fellow Africans recently, his office reiterating that it “goes against the letter and spirit of the African Union.”
Tunisian president Kais Saiel, who has been ‘consolidating’ power since his election in 2019, in what some are calling an Executive Coup, borrowed a leaf from the white nationalist page book by claiming that “successive hordes of irregular immigrants bring criminality and violence to the country” and that it is a conspiracy to “change Tunisia into only an African country (sic) that has no affiliation to Arabic and Islamic nations.”
Deputy Chairperson of the AU Dr Monique Nsazabaganwa and the AU Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development Ambassador Minata Samate then received the Permanent Representative of Tunisia accredited to the African Union to register the “AU’s deep shock and concern” at the form and substance of the statement targeting fellow Africans, “notwithstanding their legal status in the country.”
Following the Tunisian president’s stunning xenophobia and conspiratorial views on migration, his government rounded up sub-Saharan African immigrants in a police crackdown, while others were attacked at home or in the streets, leaving even Black Tunisians cowering in fear.
To the credit of its citizenry, thousands of Tunisians have taken to the streets to show solidarity with the African immigrants – in protests organized by the journalists’ union and several NGOs – shouting “No to Racism” and “No to the Cop Crackdown” in Central Tunis.
This is in stark contrast to the north African nation, the Kingdom of Morocco, where legal African migrants are made to feel welcome, with a path either back home or to ‘naturalisation’ available to the illegals, with tens of thousands of scholarships given to sub-Saharan students, in several cases with a stipend, as the Sovereign Majesty Mohammed VI follows his South-South foreign policy with the continent.
The African Union Chairman’s statement reminded all countries, particularly AU member states, to honour their obligations under both International Law and AU instruments and treat all immigrants with dignity, “wherever they come from and prioritise their safety and human rights” and refrain from “radicalized hate speech that could bring people (Africans) to harm.” South Africa is the country in Africa most known for xenophobia towards other Africans, but it is condemned, and not condoned, by the ANC Government of President Cyrille Ramaphosa.