President Kais Saied is Tunisia’s 8th president since October 2019. He led the Tunisian Constitutional Law Association from 1995 until 2019.
Saied, an Ennahda-supported independent social conservative, ran for president in 2019.
After President Kais Saied expelled unauthorized migrants and suggested immigration was a scheme to change Tunisia’s demographics, the African Union (AU) criticized Tunisia and asked it to avoid “racialized hate speech.”
On Saturday, Tunisia’s Foreign Ministry was shocked by the AU statement late Friday and rejected “baseless charges” that misinterpreted the government’s position.
The AU expressed “great astonishment and concern at the form and substance of the statement” by Tunisian authorities and reminded Tunisia of its 55-member AU commitment to treat migrants respectfully.
Saied ordered security officers to stop all unlawful migration and remove all unauthorized migrants this week, sparking a campaign of arrests that frightened sub-Saharan Africans and Black Tunisians.
He announced the restrictions by calling unauthorized immigration from sub-Saharan Africa a conspiracy to change Tunisia’s demographics and prevent it from becoming an Arab and Muslim nation.
French far-right lawmaker Eric Zemmour appreciated his remarks.
Saied denied being racist and claimed legitimate migrants in Tunisia had nothing to worry about in response to rights organization criticism.
On Saturday, rights organizations will protest Saied’s remarks and the immigration crackdown.
Comment Template