The remote militarized zone between Tunisia and Libya is as inhospitable as a region can be. There is nothing but sand and sea water, it is generally barred for visitors, humanitarian organizations or any form of trespassing. This is where Tunisian authorities had dropped off around 800 Sub-Saharan migrants for days until they were picked up again by Tunisian authorities on Monday night.

Migrants usually cross into Tunisia from other African countries with a tourist visa or no papers at all in the hopes of making it to Europe. Tunisian authorities pick them up off the street — and sometimes drop them off in the desert.

"The groups of Black refugees and migrants included children, women, pregnant women and they'd been left stranded in the Sahara with no shade, no food, no water," Monica Marks, Tunisia researcher and assistant professor of Arab Crossroads Studies at the New York University Abu Dhabi, told DW from the capital Tunis.

"The situation was absolutely horrifying, Tunisia's President Kais Saied was very much willing to allow Black refugees and migrants to die in Tunisia." 

Following the current outcry by human rights organizations, President Saied said in a statement on Sunday that migrants in his country are "receiving humane treatment emanating from our values and traits, contrary to what colonial circles and their agents are circulating."

But Lauren Seibert, a researcher at the NGO Human Rights Watch who focuses on refugees and migrant rights, told DW on Tuesday that "another group of several hundreds of Sub-Saharan migrants was bussed to the border with Algeria where they still remain without any aid."

The port city of Sfax in the south of the country is the second-largest city in Tunisia, and a well-known hub for Sub-Saharan migrants who want to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe as the nearest Italian islands are only about 130 kilometers (around 80 miles) away.

However, as the costly and dangerous journey is mostly organized via migrant smugglers, many migrants work for a while, some even years, in construction or private households in Tunisia to save up for the journey. Others just wait for the opportunity to cross, and very few decide over time to stay. In the past years, the Tunisian authorities have been quite reluctant to release visas or resident permits.

Growing anti-migrant sentiments in Tunisia

The latest crackdown against Sub-Saharan migrants by Tunisian authorities was sparked by the death of a 41-year-old Tunisian man earlier this month. He was stabbed to death in a fight between Tunisians and migrants, and the video of his funeral went viral on social media.

It is, however, not the first time that Sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia are exposed to violent attacks by the local population and the government. By Jennifer Holleis, Tarak Guizani, DW