A migrant from Sierra Leone told the BBC’s Newsday program that due to escalating racial tensions with Arabs in the country, black people have no future in Tunisia.
“Black Sub-Saharan Africans will have no future in Tunisia, and neither will our children,” said Josephus Thomas, a construction worker.
“We need to get out of Tunisia,” he said, “even if it means going to another African country.”
Some countries, such as Ivory Coast and Guinea, have offered to repatriate their citizens.
Tensions arose after President Kais Saied accused Sub-Saharan African migrants in the country of fueling a crime wave and describing them as a demographic threat.
Since then, black Africans have told the BBC that racism has increased in Tunisia.
Mr. Thomas described a terrifying scene in which “Tunisian boys armed with sticks, sharp metal, knives, and stones” pursued some Gambian, Senegalese, and Guinean migrants.
He went on to describe the situation in Tunisia as “messy and horrible,” and he admitted to attempting to flee by boat.
“If the opportunity to leave by boat presents itself, I will take it because it is preferable to living in Tunisia, where you never know what they will do to you next.”
