Migrants eyeing Europe bide their time in Tunisia/node/2500951/middle-east
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)
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.”
Iraqis find Ramadan joy in centuries-old ring game
The game involves members of one team hiding a ring — “mehbis” in Arabic — and the captain of the opposing team trying to guess who has it in the palm of his hand
Updated 57 min 45 sec ago
AFP
Baghdad: In a Baghdad arena, a crowd cheers to the rhythm of drums, not for a football match but for a fiery centuries-old game enjoyed by Iraqis during Ramadan called “mheibes.”
“It’s a heritage game, the game of our ancestors, which unites all Iraqis,” said Jassem Al-Aswad, a longtime mheibes champion in his early seventies and now president of the game’s national federation.
The game involves members of one team hiding a ring — “mehbis” in Arabic — and the captain of the opposing team trying to guess who has it in the palm of his hand.
And he has to do so within 10 minutes.
Played during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the game first appeared as early as the 16th century in Ottoman-era Baghdad, according to Iraqi folklore expert Adel Al-Ardawi.
More than 500 fans and players gathered in the stands and on the field for two matches: the Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya against the southern city of Nasiriyah, and the capital’s Al-Mashtal district versus a team from the port city of Basra.
Everyone watched as the 40 players on one team huddled together under a blanket to avoid prying eyes, and decided who would hide the “mehbis” or signet ring worn by many Iraqi men.
Sitting on the ground or on chairs, the members of the team hiding the ring then adopted serious expressions. Some closed their eyes, while others crossed their arms or even clenched their fists.
The rival team captain carefully read these facial expressions and body language to try and guess who had the ring — before pronouncing the verdict.
When the first team failed to guess correctly, the other team scored a point and the crowd went wild. 'It’s in our blood'
“Iraqis love football the most, but mheibes comes a close second. It’s in our blood,” Kadhimiya captain Baqer Al-Kazimi told AFP.
The clean-shaven 51-year-old, who wears a black robe called a jellaba, said he inherited his love of the game from his father.
Though mheibes was impacted during decades of conflict, including at the peak of the sectarian war between 2006 and 2008 marked by suicide attacks and kidnappings, Kazimi said he and others continued playing even during those dark years.
He said that only the coronavirus pandemic forced players to put their hobby on hold.
“Despite the sectarian violence, we played in cafes,” he said, recalling one game between players from the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya and those from Kadhimiya, a predominantly Shiite area.
The two districts were separated by a bridge that had been closed for years because of the violence.
“We played on the bridge. Sunnis and Shiites met,” he said.
Ahmed Maala from Basra recalled a game with a team from Baghdad that lasted all night.
“I learned the game by playing with friends and family,” he said.
“Mheibes will go down in history for its very large fan base throughout Iraq.”
Passion for the game runs so deep that sometimes arguments erupt among players, even escalating into physical violence.
In a country with nearly 400 teams, annual competitions see players from across the nation competing against each other, with 10 teams qualifying in Baghdad alone to represent the city’s different neighborhoods.
Mheibes champion Aswad said he hopes the game will one day expand beyond Iraq’s borders.
“Just as Brazil popularised football, we will transmit this game to the whole world,” he said.
Turkish prosecutors demand Istanbul mayor Imamoglu to be jailed pending trial
The key opposition figure and potential challenger to President Erdogan was detained on Wednesday for charges such as graft and aiding a terrorist group
Imamoglu has denied the charges, calling them “unimaginable accusations and slanders. His arrest has sparked widespread protests across Turkiye
Updated 23 March 2025
Reuters
ISTANBUL: Turkish prosecutors have asked a court to jail Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and four of his aides pending trial on terrorism and corruption charges, Imamoglu’s office said, as thousands of people across the nation protest what they call his undemocratic detention.
Imamoglu, a key opposition figure and potential challenger to President Tayyip Erdogan, was detained on Wednesday for charges such as graft and aiding a terrorist group.
He has denied the charges, calling them “unimaginable accusations and slanders.” The court is expected to rule on Imamoglu’s detention early on Sunday.
On Saturday, thousands of people gathered outside the Istanbul municipality building and the main courthouse, with hundreds of police stationed at both locations using tear gas and pepper spray pellets to disperse protesters, as the crowd hurled firecrackers and other objects at them.
Protesters also clashed with police in the western coastal province of Izmir and the capital Ankara for a third night in a row, with police firing water cannon at the crowds.
Imamoglu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main opposition, has condemned the detention as politically motivated and has urged supporters to demonstrate lawfully.
The government denies any influence over the matter and says the judiciary is independent.
Imamoglu, 54, who leads Erdogan in some opinion polls, was due to be named the CHP’s official presidential candidate within days.
The next election is set for 2028, but Erdogan has reached his two-term limit as president after having earlier served as prime minister. If he wishes to run again he must call an early election or change the constitution.
On Saturday, the president, who has run the country for more than 22 years, accused the CHP of trying to “provoke our nation,” adding they would not tolerate vandalism.
Military pressure will bring hostages back from Gaza, Netanyahu adviser says
Ophir Falk said this was also the surest way to force release of the remaining 59 hostages
Israel resumed its air strikes and deployed ground troops in areas across the Gaza strip in violation of a ceasefire deal
Updated 23 March 2025
Reuters
JERUSALEM: Israel will keep striking Hamas targets in Gaza to ensure the return of hostages, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, as European countries called for a ceasefire and access for aid supplies.
Ophir Falk, Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser, said military pressure pushed Hamas to accept the first truce in November 2023, in which some 80 hostages were returned. He said this was also the surest way to force release of the remaining 59 hostages.
“The only reason they went back to the negotiating table was military pressure, and that’s what we’re doing right now,” he told reporters.
After weeks of relative calm in Gaza, following a ceasefire deal reached in January, attempts to agree an extension of the halt in fighting stalled and Israel resumed its air strikes and deployed ground troops in areas across the strip.
Israel bombarded Gaza and pressed its ground operations on March 20, after issuing what it called a "last warning" for Palestinians to return hostages and remove Hamas from power. (AFP)
Falk declined to give details of negotiations to restore the ceasefire. But he said Israel had accepted proposals from US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff for an extended truce until after Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday next month.
“I can’t get into the details of the negotiations. What I can say is that we’re going to achieve all our war objectives.”
Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the terms of the January ceasefire agreement by refusing to begin negotiations for a final end to the war and a withdrawal of its troops from Gaza but has said it is still willing to negotiate and was studying Witkoff’s “bridging” proposals.
Palestinian health authorities say hundreds have been killed in the strikes, with at least 130 killed and 263 wounded in the last 48 hours.
The return to the air strikes and ground operations that have devastated Gaza has drawn calls for a ceasefire from Arab and European countries. Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement calling on Israel to restore access for humanitarian aid.
Israel has blocked the entry of goods into Gaza and Falk accused Hamas of taking aid for its own use, a charge Hamas has previously denied.
“We stopped the supply going in because Hamas was stealing it for its own use,” he said.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after a devastating Hamas attack on Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 that killed some 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally, and saw 251 abducted as hostages.
The Israeli campaign has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and devastated much of the coastal enclave leaving hundreds of thousands of people in tents and makeshift shelters.
Why efforts to protect children from early marriage have faltered in the Middle East
Conflicts, disasters, and rising conservatism have rolled back women’s rights, says Oxfam’s Hadeel Qazzaz
Despite laws setting 18 as the minimum marriage age in many Arab countries, legal loopholes undermine progress
Updated 23 March 2025
ANAN TELLO
LONDON: In a bid to protect the rights of children, Kuwait recently raised the minimum age of marriage to 18. However, the fight against child marriage across the Arab world remains an uphill battle, particularly in conflict-ridden regions.
In mid-February, Kuwait amended its Personal Status Law No. 51/1984 and Jaafari Personal Status Law No. 124/2019, citing alarming rates of child marriage. In 2024 alone, 1,145 underage marriages were registered, including 1,079 girls and 66 boys.
Lebanese women participate in a march against marriage before the age of 18, in Beirut on March 2, 2019. (AFP/file)
The move aligns with the Gulf state’s international commitments, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Under the principles of both conventions and other international treaties, child marriage is widely recognized as a harmful practice, and a violation of human rights that only deepens gender inequality, particularly as it affects girls more than boys.
“Child marriage is a human rights violation,” Hadeel Qazzaz, Oxfam’s Middle East North Africa regional gender coordinator, told Arab News. “It impacts the life of the child.”
Hadeel Qazzaz, Oxfam’s gender coordinator for MENA region. (Supplied)
She explained that child marriage denies girls the chance to pursue education or employment, strips them of decision-making power, and denies them both bodily autonomy and reproductive choice.
“It does not only impact the child’s life but also the life of her family and her future children,” said Qazzaz. “Girl brides are more likely to be subjected to different forms of gender-based violence and to be less engaged at the family, community, or society levels.”
According to New York-based monitor Human Rights Watch, research shows that underage brides are at a higher risk of experiencing domestic violence, marital rape, and restricted access to reproductive healthcare and education.
Child brides," or "death brides" as they are sometimes called, are quite common in poor tribal Yemen, where barely pubescent girls are forced into marriage, often to much older men. (AFP file photo)
UN agencies say a staggering 70 percent of married girls aged 15 to 19 experience physical or other forms of violence at the hands of their husbands.
Compounding the issue, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 in developing countries. Girls aged 15 to 20 are twice as likely to die in childbirth as those in their 20s, while girls under 15 face a fivefold risk.
Pregnancy and domestic responsibilities often prevent girls from ever returning to education, Human Rights Watch warned. This lack of education limits their choices and opportunities throughout their lives, often leading to poverty.
Girls who marry young face many adverse effects that negatively impact their health and well-being, says the UNFPA. (AFP file photo)
The impact of child marriage extends beyond the individuals themselves, affecting the region’s economy as well.
A 2020 study by the International Monetary Fund found that eliminating child marriage could boost annual per capita gross domestic product growth in emerging and developing countries by 1.05 percentage points in the long term.
Nevertheless, child marriage remains a scourge across the Middle East and North Africa, hitting war zones and post-conflict societies the hardest.
The MENA region is home to 40 million child brides, with one in five marrying before the age of 18 and one in 25 before 15, according to the UN children’s agency, UNICEF. In recent years, girls have been married off at a rate of around 700,000 per year.
“These are alarming figures that can increase with fragility, conflicts, and natural disasters,” said Oxfam’s Qazzaz.
The five countries with the highest child marriage rates in the region are Yemen at 30 percent, Iraq at 28 percent, Iran at 17 percent, Egypt at 16 percent, and Morocco at 14 percent.
According to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, the lack of legal protections, the impact of societal norms, poverty, and deep-rooted gender inequality are the key drivers of child marriage in the Arab world.
Many countries in the region have set the minimum age of marriage at 18, with some allowing exceptions based on judicial or parental consent. But even where minimum-age laws exist, exceptions often undermine their effectiveness.
In Iraq, for example, the problem is expected to worsen after authorities passed amendments to the personal status law in January, which indirectly legalize the marriage of girls as young as 9, sparking condemnation both domestically and abroad.
A girl joins a protest rally over a proposed amendment to the Iraqi Personal Status Law, which activists said would abet efemale child marriages. (AFP)
Although Iraqi law sets 18 as the minimum age of marriage, the amendments give Islamic courts greater authority to decide. Clerics could interpret Islamic law to allow such marriages under the Jaafari school followed by many religious authorities in Iraq.
Equality Now, a global feminist advocacy organization, warned that the amendments risk exacerbating existing gaps in Iraq’s 1959 Personal Status Law.
The group said the shift would create a fragmented legal system, with protections for children and women varying significantly across communities.
According to UNICEF, child marriage rates in Iraq vary widely by region, with Missan (43.5 percent), Najaf (37.2 percent), and Karbala (36.8 percent) reporting the highest rates.
Activists demonstrate against female child marriages in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad on July 28, 2024, amid parliamentary discussion over a proposed amendment to the Iraqi Personal Status Law. (AFP)
“Fragmentation of laws creates loopholes that undermine the welfare of the most vulnerable, particularly girls, and weakens the state’s ability to uphold international human rights commitments,” Dima Dabbous, Equality Now’s MENA representative, said in a statement.
Conflict and displacement across parts of the MENA region, including Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Sudan, and the Palestinian territories, worsen inequalities that make girls vulnerable to child marriage and its consequences.
Oxfam’s Qazzaz pointed out that conflict is “one of the main reasons” for the rising rates across MENA countries. “In the Gaza Strip, where child marriage was less common, there is now a noticeable increase in the number of marriages,” she said.
In the Gaza Strip, where child marriage was less common, there is now a noticeable increase in the number of marriages, says Oxfam. (AFP photo/file)
“The reasons vary from fear for the safety of the girl to scarcity of resources that force families to marry their daughters to others who can provide for them.”
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, Gaza has been under intense Israeli bombardment and a strict blockade of humanitarian aid and consumer goods.
After 16 months of war, Gaza’s population — 90 percent of whom have been displaced — are now fully reliant on what limited aid can get through.
A woman feeds her child amid the rubble of destroyed buildings at a makeshift camp for displaced Palestinians in the Nahr al-Bared area in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on December 9, 2024. (AFP)
While the January ceasefire has improved conditions in the embattled enclave, Israel’s recent decision to again suspend the entry of assistance threatens to reverse progress, aid agencies warn.
The situation for girls is similarly dire in Yemen — a hotspot for child marriage, where there is no legal minimum marriage age. The ongoing civil war, which began in 2014, has stalled efforts to establish one.
Yemeni child brides, eight year-old Nojud Ali (L) and nine year-old Arwa (R), pose for a picture as they celebrate their divorces, granted them by a Yemeni court, with a party in the capital Saana on July 30, 2008. (AFP)/file)
ccording to UN figures, the war has displaced more than 4.5 million people, and 21.6 million are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
The economic strain of displacement and conflict, coupled with pre-existing cultural norms favoring early marriage, has significantly increased underage marriages.
“In the MENA region, it’s not just conflicts that impact child marriage — economic and natural disasters, as well as the rise in conservatism and the regression of women’s rights, also play a role,” Qazzaz said.
Owing to the rise in conservatism and geopolitical tensions, “the achievements women’s rights organizations have gained through years of activism are at risk of being reversed,” she added.
Sudan, for instance, already saw high rates of child marriage and female genital mutilation even before the civil war erupted in April 2023.
Despite efforts to curb these harmful practices, 21 percent of girls aged 15 to 19 were already married before the war began, according to UNICEF.
The ongoing hostilities, mass displacement, worsening economic conditions, and declining education threaten to deepen the crisis facing women and girls.
Eight-year old Sudanese girl Ashjan Yousef, who was wed at the age of five to a man in his 40s, was granted divorce by the national court in Khartoum on October 13, 2014. (AFP/file)
Since fighting erupted between rival factions of Sudan’s military government, more than 12.5 million people have been displaced, either within the country or to neighboring countries including Egypt and Ethiopia.
Similarly, in Syria, 13 percent of women aged 20 to 25 were married as minors before the 2011 conflict broke out, according to a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council.
However, more than a decade of war and displacement has significantly increased the rate of child marriage. Today, an estimated 41 percent of Syrian girls are married before the age of 18.
“Traditions, honor, economics, fear, and protection-related factors act as drivers of child marriage of refugees in Jordan and Lebanon,” said Qazzaz.
Around 6.2 million Syrian refugees live in neighboring countries, including Turkiye, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, where most endure harsh living conditions, leading to a rise in child marriage as a coping mechanism.
In Jordan’s Zaatari camp, home to 80,000 Syrian refugees, girls as young as 13 are reportedly married to much older men. In Lebanon, 18 percent of adolescent Syrian refugee girls were married in 2014, according to UN figures.
National governments and international aid agencies are nonetheless working to improve the circumstances of women and girls and to protect them from early marriage. Oxfam, for instance, is a global partner of the Girls Not Brides campaign.
Child marriage in the Arab world denies girls the chance to pursue education or employment and strips them of power. (UNICEF/file photo)
“Most of our feminist and women rights partners work on child marriage as a major form of gender-based violence and seek to raise the age of marriage to 18,” Qazzaz said. “They document and challenge social and legal practices that allow for child marriage.”
Oxfam’s efforts in Yemen, in particular, have led to significant progress in raising awareness and influencing policy.
Through Oxfam’s work on sexual and reproductive health and rights, Qazzaz added: “We built youth networks in six countries to advocate for their rights and lead awareness campaigns, including the right to choose when and whom to marry.”
Houthi media accuses US of attacking airport in Yemen
Three attacks had targeted the airport in Hodeida on the Red Sea coast
Updated 23 March 2025
AFP
SANAA: Houthi militant media in Yemen accused the United States Saturday of attacking the airport in Hodeida, the latest such claim since Washington announced heavy strikes against the rebels one week ago.
Al-Masirah TV, blaming “American aggression,” said three attacks had targeted the airport in Hodeida on the Red Sea coast.
Between Wednesday and Friday the Iran-backed militants’ television channel made similar accusations, after United States Central Command on Wednesday confirmed “continuous operations” against the militants and President Donald Trump said they will be “annihilated.”
On March 15 the United States announced a wave of air strikes that officials said killed senior Houthi leaders, and which the militants’ health ministry said killed 53 people.
The strikes, the first since Trump resumed office, came after the militants threatened to renew attacks on Israeli shipping.
