2023-07-11 17:11:44
Lost in the desert, dozens of migrants wander, abandoned to their fate under the burning sun In recent days, the bodies of at least two of them have been found, according to Nizar Skander, spokesperson for the Tozeur court, in southeastern Tunisia. Following clashes that claimed the life of a Tunisian last week, dozens of migrants from sub-Saharan African countries were driven out of Sfax and taken by the authorities, according to NGOs, to inhospitable areas bordering Libya and Algeria.
“A first body was found at least ten days ago in the Hazoua desert (very close to the Algerian border) and another last night,” says Nizar Skander. “These were two young men, civil protection came to get the one who was found yesterday,” said a local trader who requested anonymity. According to him, “two convoys in one week were seen dropping off migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, a total of around a hundred in the vicinity of Hazoua”.
Thirty migrants without “water or food”?
“Many of these migrants try to reach the oases where the inhabitants give them water and food,” adds this witness. The NGO Human Rights Watch expressed Monday its concern for “150 to 200 sub-Saharan migrants” in the border areas between Algeria and Tunisia. A Guinean migrant, Mamadou, who geolocated in Douar El Ma, on the Algerian side of the border, launched a distress call on Monday, saying he had “no water or food”. He was no longer reachable on Tuesday. They were about thirty in the same situation, he testified.
HRW had collected a testimony a few days ago speaking of “several people died near the Algerian border”. “Many people deported near the Algerian border risk their lives if they are not immediately rescued,” said Salsabil Chellali, HRW director in Tunisia. Regarding the two bodies found, the court of Tozeur “opened an investigation for doubtful death”.
#migrants #dead #desert #Algeria