In eastern Tunisia, near the coastal city of Sfax, hundreds of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have been forced to move to nearby olive groves after authorities dismantled their camps earlier this month.
It's a familiar cycle – eviction, flight, rebuilding for these migrants, many of whom have travelled long distances from countries across sub-Saharan Africa with one goal – to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe.
Tunisia’s proximity to Italy has made it a key transit hub. With growing pressure from Europe to curb migration, the authorities are stepping up efforts to break up informal camps, especially around Sfax – a major departure point for boats.
At the “kilometre 22” camp in El Hamra – named for its distance from Sfax – people are living in fragile shelters, some made from scraps of wood and plastic, but many have nothing at all to protect them from the elements.
Nadine, a 32-year-old from Cameroon, has been sleeping on the ground.
“I was in another camp before, but it was destroyed. I have no shelter. I sleep under the olive trees. It’s not easy for us,” she told RFI.
“I saw black people here, like me, so I came – I knew they wouldn’t throw me out. I’ve already had to move more than four times. They [the authorities] come, destroy everything, chase us away, beat us. It’s not easy. I fell recently and was really hurt.”
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Despite the harsh conditions, daily life in the camp continues. Some kick a football around, others gather materials to build shelters and a few stop to pray in a small open-air mosque, marked out with bottles filled with sand.
Souleymane Doukouré, 23, from Côte d’Ivoire, is making tea with friends while French music plays from a phone. He also fled after his previous camp, at kilometre 24, was dismantled.
“One morning, they came and gave warnings. They said we had to leave, but we didn’t know where to go, so we asked. They just said if we didn’t leave within 72 hours, they would return,” Doukouré explained.
“After that they started chasing us and burned our things. We were outside for three days before we came here. Since things aren’t going well, our families are trying to send us what we need to build a shelter.”
Doukouré now shares a rough structure with 15 others, built from whatever they could find. Like many here, he has lost almost everything – his belongings, his money and any sense of safety – but he has not lost hope.
“I came for Italy. Nobody paid for me to get here, and my family suffered so that I could make it. This isn’t going to make me go back, no,” he said.
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Years of saving and sacrifice
Further into the olive groves, other camps are visible. All face the same risk – sudden destruction and another forced move. Yet many migrants are unwilling to return to their home countries, saying they will stay for as long as it takes to reach Europe.
Tunisia estimates that nearly 20,000 migrants without legal papers are living like this across the country. Dismantling the camps, authorities say, is meant to discourage migrants from settling and to ease tensions with the locals.
But the demolitions have not deterred people from staying – they simply move, rebuild and wait for another chance to make the dangerous Mediterranean crossing.
For many, making it this far has taken years of saving money and required huge sacrifices from family members.
The olive groves offer little in the way of comfort, but in the camps people find support in each other. They share what little they have – food, water, scraps of wood and cloth – and hold on to the hope that their journey will not be in vain.
This article was adapted from the original version in French
