Residents of Zarzis in southern Tunisia has extremely angry. They are blaming authorities for having buried drowned migrants from the coastal city without the informing families or finding out their whereabouts.
Blockades and
tyre burning has been their way of revolting and retaliating in the Medenine
governorate. A boat carrying migrants to Europe went missing on the September
21. It was carrying as many as 18 people. Those who perished included a child
as well.
They all came from Zarzis, a city of 78,000 residents known as a crossing point for both Tunisian and Sub-Saharan African migrants.
Authorities have been accused of negligence in initial attempts to look for the missing boat — even thwarting independent efforts with misinformation — and subsequently not putting enough effort into the search for bodies.
This was compounded by bodies being buried without families being told or, in some cases, without being identified. The recent protest has led to the bodies being exhumed finally.
Familiescontinue to protest for the whereabouts of the missing and systematic identification
of those who might have been buried. There was no DNA testing also carried out
on those who have been buried.
Zarzis city
governor, Ezzedine Khelifi, told local news outlet that they buried four
bodies washed ashore who they suspected were migrants from the boat. Mr Khelifi
said they did not attempt to identify the bodies because the families thought
their children were still alive and in Libya.
Illegal migration
continues to be headache Tunisia has been trying to manage, as it has started
to be acting as a thoroughfare for aspiring migrants moving from Tunisia and
neighbouring locations into Europe.
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