The authorities proceeded this Friday, June 20, to the dismantling of a new informal migrant camp in El Amra (Sfax). This is the fifth operation of this type since April, as part of a national campaign to combat the anarchic installation of migrants in an irregular situation.
An important dismantling operation was carried out this Friday in the El Amra delegation, at the governorate of Sfax, aimed at an informal camp of migrants known locally under the name of “camp el-Ochi”. About 1,500 sub -Saharan migrants, mostly in an irregular situation, lived there in precarious conditions.
It is the fifth intervention of this type since the launch, on April 4, of a large national campaign to dismantle migrant camps illegally installed in Tunisian territory.
The operation mobilized mixed security units, including the police, the national guard, civil protection, health services, as well as representatives of the Tunisian Red Crescent, Scouts and municipal authorities.
According to Colonel Houssameddine Jebabli, spokesperson for the General Directorate of National Security, the evacuation took place in peace and smooth. Buses have been mobilized to transport part of the migrants to the centers of the International Organization for Migration (OIM), where they can benefit from humanitarian supervision.
This operation is part of a broader context of strengthening migration policies in Tunisia. The authorities highlight a “significant drop” of the number of migrants trying to join Europe via the Tunisian coast, especially towards Italy.
Colonel Jebabli said that Tunisia is now considered an “international model” in the fight against irregular migration.
On April 24, a similar operation was carried out in the same region where more than 2,500 migrants had been evacuated. Informal camps had multiplied there, the vast majority occupied by nationals of sub -Saharan Africa, pending clandestine crossings to Europe.
