Rwandan citizens in Tunisia are safe and there is no plan to fly them back home, an official has confirmed. Following a wave of attacks on Sub-Saharan Africans in the north African country, countries like Guinea and Ivory Coast repatriated hundreds of their citizens, some of whom with injuries. Deputy government spokesperson, Alain Mukuralinda, told The New Times that there were five Rwandans in Tunisia: two charity workers, a pastor and his wife, and a nun. “All the five people are safe and sound,” Mukuralinda said, adding that the foreign ministry was monitoring the situation in Tunisia. The Chairperson of the African Union Commission @AUC_MoussaFaki strongly condemns the racial statements on fellow Africans in #Tunisia.https://t.co/9joF5kzhaY pic.twitter.com/7DQPkEYLkg — African Union (@_AfricanUnion) February 25, 2023 In February, Tunisia’s President Kais Saied claimed there were “hordes of illegal migrants” from sub-Saharan Africa who were part of a “criminal plan to change the country's demographics. Saied’s words were followed by attacks on sub-Saharans in Tunisia, sparking outrage across the continent. Some black Africans in Tunisia lost their jobs. “Immigrants should not be attacked,” Mukuralinda said. “Some of them fled insecurity, others are economic migrants.” He said the president’s statements about sub-Saharan African might have contributed to the xenophobic climate in Tunisia. The African Union condemned the “racial statements” by Tunisian authorities, which were against the organisation’s spirit. La Francophonie’s Secretary General, Louise Mushikiwabo, was “very shocked” by President Saied’s words. “The words of the Tunisian president have done a lot of harm,” Mushikiwabo told French channel TV5 Monde. President Saied has since retracted his controversial statements. “What happened was a misunderstanding,” Saied said on March 8, in Carthage near the capital Tunis, in the presence of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea-Bissau. “I am African, and proud to be so,” he said in the televised comments, adding that sub-Saharan Africans are “our brothers.” Mukuralinda said Africans who want unity on the continent should not be discouraged by what happened after the Tunisian president’s words. “Any divisions amongst Africans is an advantage for other people who don’t want us to unite,” he said.
