Three African migrants have been apprehended as suspects in the fatal stabbing of a local man in the coastal city of Sfax, Tunisia.
The incident occurred during a confrontation between residents and migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, with the victim being stabbed during the altercation.
According to Faouzi Masmoudi, spokesperson for the city’s prosecutor, the three suspects are from Cameroon. In response to potential reprisals, police have been stationed outside the migrants’ residence.
Anti-migrant sentiment
The event occurred following months of rising tensions between Tunisians and migrants.
Locals in Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city, often protest the migrants’ presence in the city, which serves as a departure point for many migrants attempting to reach Italy.
In February, President Kais Saied accused “hordes” of illegal migrants of bringing violence, crime and “unacceptable practices”, prompting a rise in racially motivated attacks on migrants and foreign students.
In late May, police arrested three Tunisians on suspicion of stabbing to death a migrant from Benin.
Tunisian economic crisis
Tunisia hosts an estimated 21 000 migrants from other parts of Africa, out of a population of 12 million, representing 0.2 percent.
Though some of those migrants come to Tunisia to study, many hope to use the country as a springboard to reach Europe across the Mediterranean sea.
Amid an economic crisis in the country, Tunisians themselves are also joining the exodus.
Tunisian is highly indebted and in talks for a bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund. However, Saied has repeatedly rejected what he terms the “diktats” of the Washington-based IMF.