Benin migrant killed in youth attack in Sfax Tunisia: A migrant from sub-Saharan Africa was stabbed to death and five others wounded in an attack by a group of Tunisian youth in east-central Tunisia, a spokesman for the Sfax court announced.
Benin migrant killed in youth attack in Sfax Tunisia
The attack was carried out between May 22 and 23 by seven Tunisians armed with knives and sabers, against 19 migrants gathered in a dwelling in El Haffara, a popular district of Sfax, said the public prosecutor and court spokesman, Faouzi Masmoudi.
A 30-year-old man from Benin died in the attack, and five other people from sub-Saharan African countries were hospitalized. “They were not seriously injured,” said the same source.
Indeed, three Tunisians, aged 17, 23 and 36, were arrested following the opening of a judicial inquiry, said Mr. Masmoudi.
Xenophobic attacks and rising violence against sub-Saharan migrants
Since the Tunisian president’s racist remarks, attacks and violence against sub-Saharan migrants have intensified.
Also, since this diatribe, exiles have faced a wave of attacks. A significant proportion of the 21,000 officially registered sub-Saharan Africans, most of whom are in an irregular situation, have lost their jobs and homes overnight.
Several human rights organizations have denounced this crime. This tragedy “comes against a backdrop of uninterrupted speeches inciting hatred and racism against migrants from sub-Saharan Africa”, reads a press release issued by the FTDES (Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights) and signed by some twenty NGOs.
In the same time, the European border surveillance agency, Frontex, recorded a 1% increase in crossings from Tunisia, compared with the same period last year.
“A climate of fear”: in Tunisia, sub-Saharan migrants stigmatized and attacked
“Patrick”*, a 29-year-old Congolese, arrived in Tunisia six months ago to study international business. But the climate in the country has deteriorated dramatically in recent months for people like him from sub-Saharan Africa.
Patrick lives at home with another student, who also prefers to stay off the streets. The two men sometimes “make an effort” to run small errands:
“We just go out near the house to buy bread, juice…in small stores. That’s it.”
Sub-Saharan Africans are targeted by Tunisians, as in Sfax, where four of them were victims of stabbings on the night of February 25, or in Tunis, where four Ivorian students were attacked as they left their hostel.