Mali brought back 135 of its citizens from Tunisia on Saturday, March 4, 2023.
It was 6:00 p.m. when the Sky Mali plane they were on landed on the Bamako International Airport.
The plane that carried them from Tunis to Bamako was chartered by the Malian government with the support of some partners, such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) whose head of mission in Mali, Pascal Reyntjens, had come to Mali for the occasion.
These Malians who left everything behind in Tunisia when they returned home were welcomed by seven members of the government. Among the 135 returnees from Tunisia were 25 women, 13 minors, 4 infants and 97
adults. Most of them said they had suffered brutality and violence. Some were chased from their workplaces while others were asked to leave their homes.
In addition, there are also some who were detained in Tunisian jails. According to the explanations of an official of the department of Malians living abroad, they were 149 compatriots to have expressed their desire to return home, but some have withdrawn afterwards. However, initially, 260 Malians had registered their names at the
Malian Embassy in Tunis in the register of voluntary returns.
For the moment, they will be taken care of by the Malian government before returning to their families. It should be recalled that since the Tunisian President Kais Saied made a speech against sub-Saharan migrants, the latter have faced a wave of aggression and hostility in several cities.
The Malian authorities had, for the circumstance, summoned the chargé d’affaire of the Tunisian embassy in Bamako to protest against the remarks made by the Tunisian president and the violence against sub-Saharan migrants including Malians. Thus, a list was opened at the Malian embassy in Tunis to identify Malian candidates for voluntary return.
It should be recalled that on February 21, the Tunisian president said that the presence in his country of “hordes” of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa was a source of “violence and crime” and was a “criminal enterprise” aimed at “changing the demographic structure” of the country.
MD/cgd/fss/APA