Tunisia president calls for int’l cooperation to confront rising irregular migration

Tunisian President Kais Saied yesterday called for international cooperation to confront the increasing rate of irregular migration from his country, stressing that no local solutions can be found for this phenomenon.

Since the beginning of the year, the phenomenon of irregular migration has been growing in Tunisia due to the economic and social crisis, in addition to similar situations and wars in other African countries.

Saied held a meeting at Carthage Palace with Interior Minister Tawfiq Sharaf El-Din and Director General of National Security Murad Saidan, according to a presidential statement seen by an Anadolu news agency correspondent.

The presidency said that during the meeting, Saied touched on “the phenomenon of irregular migration, which has worsened in the recent period and resulted in many tragedies such as the Zarzis tragedy.”

On 21 September, a migrant boat carrying 18 Tunisians from Zarzis in the Medenine Governorate went missing in the Mediterranean and 14 bodies were recovered.

READ: Tunisia fishermen retrieve bodies of eight migrants

Saied added: “These catastrophes would not have occurred if their causes had been eliminated.”

He believed “it is not possible to find real solutions at the national level, but this phenomenon, which kills thousands of lives in many regions of the world, must be addressed, in cooperation with the countries the migrants travel to.”

He blamed this on the fact that “transport networks [of migrants] go beyond the borders of a particular country, and efforts must be made not only at the national level, but also at the international level.”

Since the beginning of the year, the number of people missing in the Mediterranean has reached 544, according to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights.

On 25 August, the Tunisian National Guard announced that it had thwarted 1,509 illegal immigration attempts towards Italy in the first eight months of 2022.