Around 40 Tunisian migrants are feared missing after setting sail on a boat towards the Italian coast last week, the Tunisian National Guard reported on Tuesday.
Tunisia is grappling with a migration crisis and has replaced Libya as a primary departure point for individuals fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East, hoping to find a better life in Europe.
The National Guard released footage showing coast guard ships, aided by aircraft, searching for the missing individuals.
By December 2023, the Tunisian National Guard had counted around 70,000 migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, a figure that more than doubles the record for the same period the previous year.
Over 11 months, the National Guard intercepted 69,963 migrants compared to 31,297 during the same period in 2022, according to statistics from the National Guard spokesperson Houssem Eddine Jebali.
The statistics reveal that 77.5% (54,224) of those intercepted were foreigners, mostly from Sub-Saharan African countries, while the rest were Tunisian (15,739), compared to 59% of foreigners in 2022 (18,363) and 12,961 Tunisians.
The pace of migration operations accelerated following a speech by Tunisian President Kais Saied at the end of February, in which he denounced the arrival of “hordes of illegal migrants” from Sub-Saharan Africa, viewing it as part of a “criminal plot” aimed at “changing the country’s demographic composition.”
These remarks sparked a violent campaign against migrants, prompting African countries, particularly Ivory Coast and Guinea, to repatriate thousands of their citizens from Tunisia. Meanwhile, many others risked the perilous sea journey in dilapidated boats.
