Migrants eyeing Europe bide their time in Tunisia

Migrants eyeing Europe bide their time in Tunisia
Last year, hundreds of sub-Saharan Africans were kicked out of their jobs and homes. Tens of thousands embarked from Sfax because of its proximity to Italy. (AFP)
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Updated 28 April 2024
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Migrants eyeing Europe bide their time in Tunisia

Migrants eyeing Europe bide their time in Tunisia

EL-AMRA: Thousands of sub-Saharan migrants have huddled in Tunisian olive groves for months, living in makeshift tents and surviving on meager rations while keeping their hopes alive of reaching Europe.

Around 20,000 are in isolated areas near the towns of El-Amra and Jebeniana, some 30 and 40 kilometers north of the port city of Sfax, humanitarian sources say.

Sfax is one of Tunisia’s main departure points for irregular migration to Europe by boat, and was once a hub for sub-Saharan migrants.

After being forcibly removed from the city last autumn, migrants set up camp in neighboring towns as they awaited their chance to make the perilous crossing.

One weary 17-year-old calling himself Ibrahim said he had left Guinea more than a year ago, hoping to reach the other side of the Mediterranean “to provide for his sick mother and little brother” back home.

He said that after walking for three weeks from the border with Algeria, he arrived in El-Amra in midwinter, about three months ago.

“It’s really difficult here,” he said, adding that he and other migrants feel trapped on the sidelines of society.

“Even shopping, we have to do it in secret ... You can go out looking for work, but when it’s time for your employer to pay you, they would call the police,” he said.

Last year, anti-migrant violence broke out and hundreds of sub-Saharan Africans were kicked out of their jobs and homes.

Tens of thousands embarked from Sfax in 2023 because of its proximity to Italy, the closest European country.

“We are only a few kilometers from Europe,” said Ibrahim of Lampedusa island some 150 kilometers away.

Near El-Amra, in tents made of tarpaulins and rods, groups of five — and at times even 10 — share the same sleeping space.

Men, women and children, mostly from Cameroon, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Sudan, congregate by language.

The women cook stew as men remove the feathers of inedible-looking yet indispensable bony chickens.

The winter “was very cold, but we managed to survive thanks to the solidarity we have as African brothers,” said Ibrahim.

“If someone has food and you don’t, they give you some,” he said.

“We bought the tarpaulins with our money,” which relatives managed to send them, “or by begging.”

Some 7,000 migrants received their first food aid in months from NGOs earlier in April, but they said this was not enough and called for more help from Europe, which has ramped up measures aiming to curb irregular migration.

According to Romdhane Ben Amor, spokesman of the Tunisian NGO FTDES, the North African country “is turning into a de facto detention center because of border control agreements signed with the EU.”

Hygiene is a pressing concern at the encampments. “There have been many births and sicknesses,” said Ibrahim.

One humanitarian source said there had been one migrant birth per day in recent weeks at a hospital in Jebeniana.

Salima, 17, said she had no diapers for her four-month-old baby and had to use plastic bags instead.

While awaiting the resumption of departures for Europe, delayed because of bad weather, Salima said she was still determined to make the crossing.

Tunisian authorities raided several encampments recently, tearing down tents and kicking out some migrants, after locals allegedly reported thefts.

Near Jebeniana, journalists saw used tear gas canisters, bulldozers and destroyed tents — some of which were already being put back up.

“We’re very tired of the police,” said 22-year-old Sokoto — also a pseudonym — who left Guinea three years ago and entered from Algeria last January.

“Just yesterday, I was chased from shops” in the town of El-Amra, he said.

Mohamed Bekri, a resident of El-Amra, said he often brings food and water to the migrants for “humanitarian” reasons.

“There are babies who are three and six months old,” he said.

Despite the tensions and the dire situation the migrants find themselves in, none of those interviewed said they wanted to return to their countries of origin.

“The reverse gear is broken,” said Sokoto. “I left to help my family and I suffered a lot to get here.”


Trump nominates hard-liner Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel

Trump nominates hard-liner Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel
Updated 18 sec ago
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Trump nominates hard-liner Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel

Trump nominates hard-liner Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel
WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he had nominated Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel under his incoming administration, putting a stalwart supporter of that country’s government in a key role.
“Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years,” Trump said in a statement, referring to the Christian pastor-turned-politician.
“He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar quickly offered his congratulations to Huckabee, who has in the past said there was “no such thing as an occupation” when it came to Palestinian territories.
“I look forward to working with you to strengthen the bond between our peoples,” Minister Saar posted to Huckabee on X. “As a longstanding friend of Israel and our eternal capital Jerusalem — I hope you will feel very much at home.”
Huckabee, 69, ran twice for the Republican Party presidential nomination, including in 2016 against eventual winner Trump, who Huckabee was quick to back after falling out of the race.
He has often spoken passionately about his Christian faith and his opposition to gay rights.
Huckabee, whose nomination requires confirmation by the US Senate, has traveled to Israel regularly since 1973, and has led numerous tours there.
In 2017, he was present in Maale Adumim for the expansion of one of Israel’s largest illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. In 2018, he also laid a brick at a new housing complex in Efrat settlement, strongly suggesting he was in support of Trump’s positions on Israel.
“There is no such thing as the West Bank — it’s Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee told CNN there at the time, using the Biblical terms for the area.
“There’s no such thing as a settlement; they’re communities, they’re neighborhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation,” he added.
In December 2023 he visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where dozens of Israelis were killed in the October 7 cross-border attack by Hamas militants.
Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas, the same town that gave rise to Democrat Bill Clinton, who served as the state’s governor before he became president.
His daughter Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the current governor of Arkansas. She also served as Trump’s White House press secretary from 2017 to 2019.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels launch drones and missiles at US warships near the Red Sea but do no damage

Yemen’s Houthi rebels launch drones and missiles at US warships near the Red Sea but do no damage
Updated 22 min 17 sec ago
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Yemen’s Houthi rebels launch drones and missiles at US warships near the Red Sea but do no damage

Yemen’s Houthi rebels launch drones and missiles at US warships near the Red Sea but do no damage
  • Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said the Iranian-backed Houthis launched at least eight drones, five anti-ship ballistic missiles and three anti-ship cruise missiles
  • No one was wounded on board in the blasts, and the ship was continuing on its journey, the UKMTO added

DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi militants targeted two US Navy warships with multiple drones and missiles as they were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but the attacks were not successful, the Defense Department said Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said the Iranian-backed Houthis launched at least eight drones, five anti-ship ballistic missiles and three anti-ship cruise missiles at the USS Stockdale and the USS Spruance, both Navy destroyers, on Monday. He said there was no damage and no one was injured.
The strait is a narrow waterway between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which typically sees $1 trillion in goods pass through it a year. The militants have been targeting shipping through the strait for months over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon.
The Houthis have insisted that the attacks will continue as long as the wars go on, and the assaults already have halved shipping through the region. Meanwhile, a UN panel of experts now allege that the Houthis may be shaking down some shippers for about $180 million a month for safe passage through the area.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree in a prerecorded statement earlier Tuesday had claimed the militants attacked two American destroyers in the Red Sea with ballistic missiles and drones.
There were also reports of a commercial ship being attacked. A vessel in the southern reaches of the Red Sea, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida, reported the attack, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.
No one was wounded on board in the blasts, and the ship was continuing on its journey, the UKMTO added.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the UKMTO report was directly linked to the attacks on the US destroyers, but similar incidents of Houthi fire coming near other ships have happened before.
The Houthis have targeted more than 90 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October 2023. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign, which also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well.
The militants maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis have shot down multiple American MQ-9 Reaper drones as well.
The last Houthi maritime attack came Oct. 28 and targeted the Liberian-flagged bulk tanker Motaro. Before that, an Oct. 10 attack targeted the Liberian-flagged chemical tanker Olympic Spirit.
It’s unclear why the Houthis’ attacks have dropped, though they have launched multiple missiles toward Israel as well. On Oct. 17, the US military unleashed B-2 stealth bombers to target underground bunkers used by the militants. US airstrikes also have been targeting Houthi positions in recent days as well.
Meanwhile, a report by UN experts from October says “the Houthis allegedly collected illegal fees from a few shipping agencies to allow their ships to sail through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden without being attacked.” It put the money generated a month at around $180 million, though it stressed it hadn’t been able to corroborate the information provided by sources to the panel.
The Houthis haven’t directly responded to the allegation. However, the report did include two threatening emails the Houthis sent to shippers, with one of those vessels later coming under attack by the militants.


Jordan completes latest airdrop of aid to Gaza

Jordan completes latest airdrop of aid to Gaza
Updated 52 min 19 sec ago
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Jordan completes latest airdrop of aid to Gaza

Jordan completes latest airdrop of aid to Gaza
  • UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees warns that the amount of emergency humanitarian supplies entering the territory ‘is at its lowest level in months’
  • Jordanian Armed Forces have carried out 123 airdrops of emergency aid to Gaza since war began, and a further 266 in joint efforts with other countries

LONDON: Jordan’s air force carried out its latest delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

It came as the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees said the amount of emergency supplies entering the enclave is lower than it has been for months.

Royal Jordanian Air Force C130 Hercules aircraft dropped crates of food, drinking water and medical supplies, the Jordan News Agency reported. Since the war began in October last year, the Jordanian Armed Forces have completed 123 airdrops of emergency aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and a further 266 as part of joint efforts with countries including France and the UK.

Humanitarian officials consider land convoys to be the most effective way of delivering emergency supplies to help ease the humanitarian crisis, but Jordan has resorted to airdrops because of Israeli army restrictions on access to the Gaza Strip that have been in place since last year.

Also on Tuesday, Louise Wateridge, an emergencies officer with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, warned that “aid entering the Gaza Strip is at its lowest level in months.”

On Monday, during the Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh, Jordan’s King Abdullah called for “a humanitarian bridge to break the siege imposed on the people in the Gaza Strip and deliver emergency aid to the sector that is suffering a humanitarian disaster.”

He said that finding “a real political horizon to resolve the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution” remains the “only way to achieve peace, stability and security in the region.”


Iran, Russia link bank card systems

Iran, Russia link bank card systems
Updated 12 November 2024
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Iran, Russia link bank card systems

Iran, Russia link bank card systems

TEHRAN: Iranian bank cards can now be used in Russia, state television reported, as the two countries linked their banking systems in the latest bid to counteract sanctions.

Iranian banks have been excluded since 2018 from the SWIFT international financial messaging service, which governs the vast majority of trans-actions worldwide.

The move is part of a raft of sanctions that were re-imposed on Iran after the US withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

Iranian bank cards can now be used in Russia, state television channel IRINN said on Monday, showing the withdrawal of money using an Iranian bank card from an ATM in Russia.

The operation was made possible by connecting Iran’s interbank network Shetab to its Russian equivalent Mir, the channel said.

Iranians can currently withdraw money in Russia, and will in the future be able to use their cards to pay for in-store purchases, it added.

“The plan is also going to be implemented in other countries that have a wide range of financial and social interactions with Iran, for example Iraq, Afghanistan and Turkiye,” it said.

Both Iran and Russia have sought to counteract the effects of sanctions on their economies.


Lebanese artists struggle to keep creativity alive in a nation at war

Lebanese artists struggle to keep creativity alive in a nation at war
Updated 12 November 2024
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Lebanese artists struggle to keep creativity alive in a nation at war

Lebanese artists struggle to keep creativity alive in a nation at war
  • Artists use their work as an outlet for the frustration and despair they feel

BEIRUT: As Israel presses a deadly offensive against armed group Hezbollah in his home country, Lebanese artist Charbel Samuel Aoun wrestles with the role of art in a country engulfed in conflict.

“Does art still have a place in such a crisis?” said Aoun, a 45-year-old mixed media painter and sculptor.

Lebanon has historically played a central role in the Arab world’s artistic scene, serving as a vibrant hub for visual arts, music and theater, blending traditional and contemporary influences.

Now, Lebanese artists are using their work as an outlet for the frustration and despair they feel after a year-long Israeli offensive that has killed more than 3,200 people, the vast majority of them since September.

Aoun’s pieces are a direct reflection of Lebanon’s back-to- back crises. In 2013, he began gathering dust from Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon to create a series of layered paintings, before moving on to explore other mediums.

Now, he says the darkness and hopelessness of the war — and the debris left behind by Israel’s intense bombing campaign across Lebanon’s south, east and Beirut’s southern suburbs — has revived his desire to work with dust.

“You either stop everything or keep going with the little that still has meaning,” he said.

Two of his exhibitions have been canceled due to the war. While he once lived on the income from his art, he now also relies on selling honey from his beehives, which he first set up as a project to create art from beeswax.

“I can no longer rely on the art market,” he said.

Galleries across Beirut have shut down in recent months, with owners saying there was no demand to buy art at this time. Lebanon’s famed modern art museum, the Sursock Museum, has moved its collections to underground storage.

Lebanese singer and musician Joy Fayad has grappled with the emotional toll of the conflict — which made it difficult for her to perform for months.

“It limited my creativity, it was like I shut down. I couldn’t give to others, nor to myself,” Fayad, 36, said.

Instead, she threw her energy into songwriting. One line in a new song reads: “You are from the downtrodden people, whose word has been silenced, and by their weapons, you are paying the price with your blood.”

She recently began performing again, singing for displaced and refugee children in Lebanon at a charity event north of Beirut.

“They’re changing the atmosphere, having fun after such a difficult period,” she said, especially for those who became accustomed to the sound of bombs instead of beats.