Tunisian President Kais Saied on Wednesday (March 8th) defended himself against any racism against sub-Saharan Africans after the outcry aroused by his inflammatory speech against illegal immigrants from his country.
On February 21, Kais Saied claimed that the presence of "
hordes
" of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa was a source of "
violence and crime
" and part of a "
criminal enterprise
" aimed at "
changing the demographic composition
" .
from the country.
After this speech, condemned by NGOs as "
racist and hateful
", nationals of sub-Saharan Africa reported an upsurge in attacks against them and rushed by the dozens to their embassies to be repatriated.
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"Malicious remarks"
In an apparent concern for appeasement, Kais Saied affirmed during an interview with the President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was stopping over in Tunis, that the Africans present in Tunisia were "brothers", according to a
video
broadcast by the Tunisian presidency.
Affirming that the objective of his speech was to ensure respect for "
Tunisian legality concerning foreigners
" and to prevent any "
jurisdiction parallel to the jurisdictions of the State
", he rejected the "
malicious remarks
" of those who "
wanted interpret the speech as they please to harm Tunisia
".
“
This situation concerning Africans cannot be interpreted by malevolent tongues, as they have been doing in recent days, as racism.
What are they talking about?
They ramble
,” he added.
"
I am African and I am proud to be so
," he said.
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Mr. Embalo, current president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) spoke of a "
misinterpretation
" of Mr. Saied's speech on sub-Saharan migrants, saying he could not not believe that "
the president of Tunisia, the country of (Habib) Bourguiba, can be xenophobic or racist
".
The African Union had condemned “ shocking
” statements
, calling on member countries to “
refrain from any racist hate speech
”.
According to official figures, Tunisia has more than 21,000 nationals from sub-Saharan African countries, the majority in an irregular situation, ie less than 0.2% of a total population of around 12 million.