bir yıl önce

Tunisia, Libya agree to provide shelter to stranded asylum seekers at border

The irregular refugees, primarily from sub-Saharan African countries, have been taken to the desert area of Ras Jedir by Tunisian authorities, according to witnesses, rights groups and UN agencies.

AFP Archive

Libyan border guard provide water to migrants of African origin who reportedly have been abandoned by Tunisian authorities, following their arrival in an uninhabited area near Al Assah on the Libya-Tunisia border. / Photo: AFP Archive

Tunisia and Libya have announced that they had agreed to share responsibility for providing shelter for hundreds of asylum seekers stranded in a border area, many of them for a month.

Faker Bouzghaya, a spokesperson for Tunisia's Interior Ministry, said on Thursday during a joint meeting with Libyan authorities in Tunis that "we have agreed to share the groups of migrants who are at the border".

The irregular refugees, primarily from sub-Saharan African countries, had been taken to the desert area of Ras Jedir by Tunisian authorities, according to witnesses, rights groups and UN agencies.

Aid groups said three groups of about 300 refugees in total remain stranded there.

"Tunisia will take charge of a group of 76 men, 42 women and eight children," Bouzghaya told AFP.

He said the groups were transferred on Wednesday to reception centres in the cities of Tatouine and Medenine and provided with health and psychological care, with the help of the Tunisian Red Crescent.

Under the agreement, Libya will take charge of the remaining 150 asylum seekers, humanitarian sources said.

The Libyan interior ministry earlier on Thursday announced the bilateral agreement to "put an end to the crisis of irregular migrants stranded in the border area".

Dozens of refugees found dead near Libya's border with Tunisia — Tripoli

Racial tensions

Racial tensions had flared in Tunisia's second city of Sfax after the July 3 killing of a Tunisian man following an altercation with refugees.

Up to 1,200 black Africans were "expelled, or forcibly transferred by Tunisian security forces" to desert border regions with Libya and Algeria, Human Rights Watch said.

Crossing attempts have multiplied in March and April following an incendiary speech by President Kais Saied who had alleged that "hordes" of irregular migrants were causing crime and posing a demographic threat to the mainly Arab country.

Humanitarian officials have reported at least 25 deaths of migrants abandoned in the Tunisian-Libyan border area since last month.

Xenophobic attacks targeting black African migrants and students have increased across the country since Saied's February remarks, and many migrants have lost jobs and housing.

The two countries are major gateways for migrants and asylum seekers primarily from other parts of Africa, attempting perilous voyages in often rickety boats in the hopes of a better life.