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28/06/2023 – 12/07/2023

  • On July 8, one of the migrants sitting in front of the IOM Office died. He was sick and didn’t receive any medical treatment. 
  • From July 2, violence against migrants increase in Sfax : 
    • On July 2, Tunisian military violently arrested 48 people. 20 of them were expelled to Libya. Among them, two pregnant women need medical care. They were transferred to Ben Guardane, where they subjected to beatings and mistreatment, before being left at the Libyan border. 
    • From July 2 to 3, several clashes between migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and residents of Sfax happened. Several people have been hurt by stone-throwing and a Tunisian 41-years old man died in the evening, on July 3. 
    • On July 4, the Presidency declared that Tunisia was neither a transit zone nor a border guard for others. 
    • The night of July 4 to 5 has been extremely violent in Sfax : demonstration for migrants’ departure, tyre fire, brutal arrests of migrants.
    • On 5 July, more than 350 people were blocked in the militarised border zone between Tunisia and Libya, facing mistreatment, the death of their loved ones in front of their eyes and rape. Some of them are deported from Tunisia to the deserted border region with Algeria. 
    • On July 8, the Tunisian Presidency stated that sub-Saharan migrants were well treated, contrary to rumours.
    • On July 8, Alarm Phone has been informed that people stranded in the desert near the Algerian border haven’t eaten for 4 days.  
  • The MSF humanitarian vessel Geo Barents intervened several times from July 3 to 4 in the Maltese SAR. All the survivors were from Tunisia : 
    • At first, a rubber boat carrying 51 people, including 9 minors (6 of them were not accompanied) from Tunisia, was drifting off Malta on 3 July. 
    • Then, during the night, three other rescue operations took place, to save three boats carrying 59, 42 and 44 people respectively. There were 196 survivors on board including 47 unaccompanied minors, 16 women and 1 baby.
  • 40 people leaving Sfax were in distress on June 29. Alarm Phone was informed on June 30 that they were rescued by a fisherman. 
  • On June 28, 36 people were in distress off Tunisian coasts.