Tunis, Tunisia–Tunisia’s President Kais Saied on Wednesday denied racism following an outcry after he launched a tirade against sub-Saharan African migrants, fuelling a spate of sackings, evictions and attacks.
Last month, Saied ordered officials to take “urgent measures” to tackle irregular migration, claiming without evidence that “a criminal plot” was underway to change Tunisia’s demographic makeup.
He claimed that migrants were behind most crime in the North African country.
Hundreds of migrants have flown home from Tunisia, fearful of a wave of violence since the president’s remarks.
In an apparent bid to row back on his comments, Saied said in a meeting with Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo in Tunis that the Africans in Tunisia were “brothers”, according to a video released by the Tunisian presidency.
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He said the aim of his speech was to ensure respect for “Tunisian legality regarding foreigners” and to prevent any “jurisdiction parallel to that of the state”.
He slammed the “malicious remarks” of those who “wanted to interpret the speech as they saw fit to harm Tunisia”.
“This situation concerning Africans cannot be interpreted by malicious tongues, as they have done in recent days, as racism. What are they talking about? They are rambling,” he added.
“I am African and I am proud to be African,” he said.
Embalo, current chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said Saied’s speech on sub-Saharan migrants had been “misinterpreted”.
The African Union has previously expressed “deep shock and concern” at Saied’s remarks, urging member states to “refrain from racialised hate speech that could bring people to harm”.
According to official figures, there are around 21,000 undocumented migrants from other parts of Africa in Tunisia, which is home to around 12 million people.