Tunisian Authorities Deport Hundreds of Sudanese Refugees Near Libyan Border

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Tunisian authorities surprised hundreds of Sudanese refugees in the city of Zarzis on Saturday, aiming to transfer them to another area near the Libyan border.

A Sudanese refugee told "Citizens" in a phone call, "Security is now launching a deportation campaign for Sudanese from Zarzis to the Ben Gardane area near the border with Libya, and hundreds have now been moved."

Zarzis is a port and tourist center located in the southeast of the country, about 540 km from the capital, Tunis.

The refugee explained that around 500 Sudanese refugees, who were staying in the city center in tents provided by the UNHCR, were transferred again to the Ruwais accommodation north of the Zarzis sports stadium, located outside the city about 6 km away, before the authorities surprised them with a new deportation campaign to the Ben Gardane area in the far southeast of the country, the last major city near the Libyan border about 30 km away.

The refugee said that the sudden campaign created panic and forced some refugees to flee into the city of Zarzis in an attempt to avoid deportation.

He clarified that the refugees had recently arrived in Tunisia since last October, fleeing the ongoing war in Sudan since last April.

The campaign seems to aim at removing refugees from the coastal areas where irregular crossing operations to European shores are active.

In early February of last year, Tunisian authorities recovered the bodies of 13 Sudanese migrants who had died, while 27 were missing, and two were rescued after their boat, carrying 42 Sudanese refugees, all men, capsized off the eastern coast of Tunisia, after departing from the coast of the Gabes region in the Sfax governorate.

Tunisia serves as the main departure point for migrants heading to Italian territory, with parts of its coast less than 150 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa.