Latest news with #KaisSaied
Zawya
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Zawya
Tunisia: President Kais Saied, "Many public facilities are not being managed properly"
Tunis - President Kais Saied met on Monday afternoon at the Carthage Palace, Prime Minister Sara Zaafrani Zenzri. Dring the meeting, the Head of State stressed that Tunisia needs not only new legislation but also individuals who will faithfully ensure its implementation. "A legislative revolution cannot be achieved without a revolution in the management of public facilities," he was quoted as saying in a Presidency statement. In this context, the President of the Republic emphasised that many public facilities are not being managed properly. He underscored that the Tunisian state is one, not two, one visible and another often described as hidden. In reality, this so-called "hidden" state is a system composed of remnants and reactionary factions whose only aim is to inflame tensions and oppress citizens. There is no room for such entities to remain unaccountable, as required by the law. The Head of State clarified that the Tunisian Constitution stipulates that public administration and all state facilities must serve citizens with neutrality and accountability, and that any discrimination based on affiliation is a crime punishable by law. On another note, the President of the Republic emphasised the need for a comprehensive national approach to all issues under discussion. Sectoral approaches may provide solutions for one or two sectors but will not lead to collective resolutions. He affirmed that work continues to meet the legitimate demands of the Tunisian people, noting that Tunisia is rich in competent individuals capable of unlimited contributions, provided doors are opened to them through new ideas and fresh perspectives. © Tap 2022 Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Zawya
20-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Tunisia calls for redefining development priorities in Arab world, boosting inter-Arab trade
Tunis - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration, and Tunisians Abroad, Mohamed Ali Nafti, headed the Tunisian delegation participating in the 5th Arab Economic and Social Development Summit held in Baghdad on Saturday. He delivered a speech on behalf of President Kais Saied, emphasising Tunisia's commitment to addressing development challenges as the most effective means to counter security and social threats. According to a Foreign Ministry statement, Tunisia called for redefining development priorities in the Arab world through a shared, innovative vision centered on the Arab citizen and aimed at meeting their economic and social needs. It stressed the need to bridge developmental, knowledge, and technological gaps among Arab nations and boost intra-Arab trade, which remains below potential at just 13% of total Arab foreign trade. Tunisia also underscored the importance of developing effective strategies to enhance food security, mitigate water scarcity, and address environmental risks. It also urged support for infrastructure, transport, electricity, and smart city projects, alongside advancing the Greater Arab Free Trade Area and transitioning to an Arab Customs Union to strengthen national economies. Highlighting the importance of reform, governance, and equitable wealth distribution, Tunisia asserted that true development requires social justice, including economic empowerment and social protection for vulnerable groups. The country reaffirmed its commitment to regional programmes for women's economic and social empowerment, enhancing women's participation in labour markets and decision-making and creating legislative environments that promote equality. Tunisia also said it was looking forward to active Arab participation in the preparatory regional meeting for the 2nd World Summit for Social Development, hosted in Tunis on June 30 and July 1, 2025. It pledged support for initiatives serving Arab peoples' interests and called for stronger partnerships between Arab states and regional/international blocs. It urged the practical implementation of summit recommendations to ensure tangible progress. Minister Nafti also led Tunisia's delegation at the 34th Ordinary Arab Summit, held concurrently in Baghdad. © Tap 2022 Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Zawya
13-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Tunisia: Reconstruction of public transport under focus as President of Republic meets Transport Minister
Tunis: President Kais Saied met on Monday Minister of Transport, Rachid Amri, at the Carthage Palace. During the meeting, the Head of State discussed the reconstruction of the public transport sector, particularly the imminent arrival of new buses to alleviate citizens' commuting hardships while awaiting the full restoration of this system, which has been nearly dismantled nationwide, according to a statement from the Presidency. Rhe Head of State ordered remove all obstacles to ensure these buses arrive in Tunisia as soon as possible. The meeting also addressed the ongoing issues at Tunisair, including recent disruptions to flight schedules. President Kais Saied emphasised the need for structural reforms to restore the prestige of this historic national carrier, asserting that its privatisation is non-negotiable, despite some openly advocating for it. He similarly ruled out relocating Tunis-Carthage International Airport, as it had been canvassed some time ago. The Head of State concluded by affirming that Tunisia's public companies and establishments are not for sale, declaring that Tunisair will remain a source of national pride, excelling in air and ground services. He stressed that Tunisia is waging a war of national liberation, where the country's supreme interest must override all other considerations. © Tap 2022 Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Zawya
13-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Tunisia: Head of State mandates comprehensive agricultural land Audit
Tunis: President Kais Saied met on Monday at the Carthage Palace Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, Ezzeddine Ben Cheikh. The meeting marked the 61st anniversary of Law No. 5, dated May 12, 1964, concerning the ownership of agricultural land in Tunisia. At the outset of the meeting, the President of the Republic highlighted the symbolic significance of this date and the law's role in restricting agricultural land ownership exclusively to Tunisian nationals, according to a Presidency statement. He reviewed key historical milestones in the management of agricultural lands, noting how they had been distributed and exploited without legal justification. President Kais Saied stressed the need for a comprehensive audit programme in collaboration with the Ministry of State Property and Land Affairs. He recalled that past intentions to conduct such an audit, covering not only agricultural lands but all state properties, were derailed, allowing illegitimate seizures to persist. The Head of State also emphasised that procedures for transferring state-owned lands into private ownership must be expedited to benefit founders of communitarian enterprises. These lands, he noted, are either underutilised or exploited without legal basis. Priority should be given to young, innovative individuals eager to work and capable of generating diverse agricultural wealth. This would not only ensure self-sufficiency but also open access to global markets, bringing prosperity to the entire nation, he was quoted as saying in the same statement. © Tap 2022 Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Middle East Eye
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Tunisia: Sub-Saharan Africans suffer in EU-fuelled migrant crackdown
A transit country for mainly Sub-Saharan Africans seeking to reach Europe by sea, Tunisia has been receiving EU support for border control since 2023, triggering an internal migration crisis that recently led to the dismantling of several camps. The operation carried out by the National Guard followed anti-migrant rhetoric in the public sphere and a particularly hostile stance by Tunisian President Kais Saied, who claimed in February 2023 that 'hordes of irregular migrants' were present in Tunisia as part of 'a criminal plan to change the composition of the demographic landscape" of the North African country. The speech led to waves of attacks against Sub-Saharan people, who were progressively pushed out of urban areas towards remote villages. Approximately 20,000 migrant and refugees found shelter in 17 makeshift camps in the olive fields of al-Amra and Jebiniana, near the eastern coastal city of Sfax. But their presence sparked numerous protests from locals, who claimed they could no longer access their lands. On 4 April, the National Guard started dismantling the camps, burning residents' belongings and arresting those who protested. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters According to officials, most of the residents were displaced towards state-owned lands, while others attempted to build smaller camps nearby. Said reiterated that Tunisia "will never be a point of transit nor a land of settlement" for people seeking to reach Europe, arguing that "those who have been trying since 2017 to turn Tunisia into a place of settlement for migrants, pocketing millions in foreign currencies, are constantly plotting from abroad against the country's security". Meanwhile, he has pushed to accelerate the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)'s voluntary return programmes, leading to the launch of weekly repatriation flights in May. Racist rhetoric Analysts and activists say the current dismantling campaign is a direct result of widespread anti-migrant statements by some politicians, who present them as a danger and an existential threat to be kept at bay. In February, independent MP Fatma Mseddi called for controls on migrant women's birth rates, warning of the 'risk' that soon Tunisians of Sub-Saharan origins could one day become MPs in Tunisia. She then made a visit to the camps, which she described as 'a state within the state' while warning against an 'alarming' situation. Anti-migrant discourse has also surged on social media, particularly targeting Sub-Saharan women, accused of heightened 'fertility', with users keeping track of numbers of births in Sfax hospitals. Hate speech against Black Africans in Tunisia spreads on social media Read More » For Ahlam Chemlali, a migration researcher at Aalborg University in Denmark, these narratives are inspired by the Great Replacement theory - a far-right conspiracy concept that Tunisian authorities have adopted to claim that Black Africans plan to replace Tunisians - and are used to criminalise and pathologise Sub-Saharan women. 'This racist trope constructs Black and brown women as hyper-fertile and a demographic threat,' she told MEE. 'Black women, especially mothers, are surveyed, stigmatised and blamed for bringing children into precarious conditions, as if their reproductive choices were a political provocation rather than a survival strategy.' Acting on these hate speeches, the authorities have sought to evict migrant people 'as a way to make them invisible,' Chemlali said. For Khaled Tabbabi, a migration specialist, 'this is reproducing a colonial racist fantasy". 'To protect the beauty of Lac1 [upper class neighbourhood in Tunis] and Sfax, migrants need to be invisibilised,' he told MEE. Lately, online anti-migrant rhetoric and fear-mongering campaigns have also led to the creation of vigilante groups which have been seen patrolling in search for migrants to hand over to the police, often mistreating them in the process. According to Mohamed Salah Chatti, a researcher in geopolitics and international relations, the government has no interest in stopping the phenomenon, even if it could spiral out of control. 'The authorities are not taking action against these groups and they are even benefiting from their role as informants and from their actions in chasing irregular migrants,' he told MEE. European 'carte blanche' to Saied In addition to local authorities, activists accuse the European Union of being behind this situation by outsourcing migration management to countries south of the Mediterranean. After the 2011 pro-democracy revolution and the start of the war in neighbouring Libya, Tunisia began to be seen as a transit country, mainly for Sub-Saharan populations, and no longer just as a place of irregular emigration for its own nationals. The EU therefore attempted to push Tunisia to adopt a national asylum law, present itself as a safe country for migrants and set up detention centres to process asylum requests to Europe. However in 2018, Tunisia refused, tasking instead the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) with granting refugee status, while the IOM was mostly responsible for voluntary returns. This led to migrant people being stuck in limbo, with no opportunities for education or employment, and therefore vulnerable to abuse. 'Vulnerability for migrants is created through migration policies. The objective is to put them in such precarious conditions that they would ask for voluntary returns' - Khaled Tabbabi, migration specialist Then in 2023, Tunis signed a controversial memorandum of understanding with Brussels granting the North African country $225m to deter migration to Europe. The deal was criticised by civil society groups for lacking human rights safeguarding and risking making the EU 'complicit in abuses' carried out by Tunisian authorities. 'The EU-Tunisia deal effectively gave carte blanche to President Saied to manage migration however he sees fit, as long as migrants are prevented from crossing into Europe,' Chemlali said. Since Saied's anti-migrant speech, Tunisia has been repeatedly accused of serious violations of their rights, including collective expulsions, mistreatment, sexual violence, as well as cases of human trafficking and sale of people to Libyan militias. Authorities denied what they called 'malicious allegations' but refused to launch a public investigation. Moreover, last year, Saied accused NGOs assisting migrants of being foreign agents, working in Europe's interests to help the settlement of non-nationals in Tunisia. The French NGO Terre d'Asile, local group Mnemty, and the Tunisian Council for Refugees, were all forced to shut down in 2024. As a result, asylum procedures have been suspended, leaving asylum seekers with no alternative to get permanent residency. In addition, a dozen activists and NGO workers have been jailed and 40 others have faced criminal prosecution for their support of asylum seekers. The crackdown has had 'devastating humanitarian consequences for refugees and migrants in the country,' Amnesty International said this week. For Tabbabi, the precarious conditions in which migrants are forced to live are a result of a deliberate European border control policy. 'We were all raped': Tunisian security forces accused of abusing migrating women Read More » 'Vulnerability for migrants is created through migration policies. Migrants are marginalised from basic necessities, like food, shelter or healthcare... The objective is to put them in such precarious conditions that they would ask for voluntary returns,' he told MEE. Activists also accuse the EU of increasingly involving civil society and international organisations in migration control to legitimise its goals and give a more human aspect to its border outsourcing. 'The IOM and UNHCR are complicit in creating these dangerous conditions. The process of asking for asylum is full of obstacles and blockages. It takes months just to get an appointment,' Tabbabi said, adding that both organisations are massively funded by EU member states. 'The IOM and UNHCR in Tunisia are playing their role in border management which consists in facilitating deportations. This is the only task they can fulfil as they were intimidated even in the president's speeches,' Chatti said, in reference to Saied's accusations that these organisations 'only provide reports and communiques'. Chemlali also noted that the Red Crescent and IOM staff seemed to assist the National Guard with the current dismantling operations in Sfax, which raised concerns about their involvement in the current crisis. 'Humanitarian organisations are supposed to operate with neutrality and independence. When they are seen collaborating with security forces in eviction campaigns, it blurs those lines. It undermines trust and raises serious questions about complicity in human rights violations,' she said, asking that their role be clarified. MEE has reached out to the IOM, the UNHCR, the Red Crescent and the EU delegation in Tunisia for comment, but had not received any response by the time of publication. While it has been reported that the EU is now developing 'concrete conditions' for delivering its payments to Tunisia based on respect for human rights, that is unlikely to influence state policies, according to Chatti. 'Diplomatic pressure may impact the wording in the president's statements and the discursive policies for a certain period of time but, at the level of practical policies, nothing will change,' he said. 'Voluntary' returns 'doomed to failure' Meanwhile, Tunisian authorities are promoting so-called voluntary returns as a solution to all migration-related problems. In April, around a thousand people left the country using the IOM programme, confirming the upward trend seen in the past months. In 2024, 7,250 returned home, compared to only 2,557 in 2023. However, for civil society organisations, these returns cannot be considered voluntary. 'When your home has been destroyed, your savings stolen and your children are without shelter or food, the IOM return programme becomes the only available option. That's not voluntary, that's survival under duress,' Chemlali said. 'What we see is not an end to migration, but its transformation into something more fragmented, risky, and deadly' - Ahlam Chemlali, migration researcher at Aalborg University 'It's a form of forced displacement, dressed in the language of humanitarianism and consent.' According to Frontex, the EU border agency, arrivals from Tunisia and Libya decreased by 59 percent in 2024. However, for Tabbabi and Chemlali, this does not indicate that migration flows towards Europe will decrease or stop. 'What we see is not an end to migration, but its transformation into something more fragmented, risky, and deadly. People don't disappear; they reappear elsewhere, often in more precarious ways,' Chemlali said. 'The number of migrants coming from the Mediterranean may have decreased after Europe closed off all pathways, but it created human tragedies in Tunisian seas and in border zones,' Tabbabi noted. At least 600 people died in shipwrecks off Tunisia's coasts in 2024, according to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES). 'A lot of migrants come here as a result of climate change, others are facing political or societal threats. These people are resisting to stay alive and their attempts to look for a safe space will never stop,' he added. 'The best solution is a human mechanism where the states equally share the responsibility of managing asylum seekers, each country according to its capabilities, instead of opposing geography and exposing their countries to instability,' Chatti stressed. 'Every other policy that goes against this direction is nothing more than a temporary solution that is doomed to failure.'
