The Tunisian authorities found the bodies of 9 irregular immigrants in the Kasserine governorate, on the border with Algeria, in the west of the country.
The official spokesman for the Kasserine court, Riyad Al-Nawiwi, told the French Press Agency that the bodies were found in recent days in the “Haidara” area (west of the center) and “they are presented to the forensic doctor” to find out the causes of death.
Al-Nawiwi confirmed that the “Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights” – a non-governmental organization that follows up on the issue of migrants – mentioned in a statement yesterday, Tuesday, that the migrants were from sub-Saharan African countries and “died of cold, thirst and exhaustion.”
Irregular immigrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, come across the Tunisian-Algerian border, seeking to migrate by sea from the Tunisian coast – especially from the Sfax governorate – towards the Italian coast.
Official silence and militarism
In its statement, the forum strongly condemned “the official silence regarding the tragedies of migration, the policies of militarization of borders, and normalization with death by land and sea,” as it put it. He called on the authorities to establish a humanitarian reception and guidance system on the Algerian-Tunisian border to ensure the provision of basic humanitarian services to the victims of the deadly migration routes.
Parts of the coasts of Tunisia are less than 150 km from the Italian island of Lampedusa, and irregular migration attempts towards the Italian coasts are regularly recorded, with the majority of the participants coming from sub-Saharan African countries.
According to the Italian Ministry of the Interior, more than 45,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, almost four times more than last year during the same period.
Tunisian President Kais Saied suggested organizing a meeting as soon as possible at the level of heads of state and government or at the level of interior ministers, in which all concerned countries, including those from which migrants come, would participate, “so that cooperation formulas are agreed upon that eliminate the causes of irregular migration.”