Tunisian police have allegedly set a makeshift camp sheltering hundreds of African migrants including Gambians on fire leaving them barely with no food and clothing.

This followed a similar attack on 500 Gambian migrants four months ago which severely injured many migrants. 

Speaking to Gambiana exclusively, Ebrima Drammeh, Italy-based Gambian migrant activist, said the attack happened between the hours of 10 to 11 in the morning of Wednesday.

“The Tunisian police attacked the Sub Saharan Africa migrants’ camp in SFAX at KM 10 many of them are Gambian and Senegalese, the police burned all their belongings, including food, clothes, money etc,” he said.

Meanwhile, the desperate migrant victims could be heard saying: “the Tunisian police attacked us again and set our house camp on fire during this cold season. This is very sad, they burnt down all our belongings. We don’t have anything left with us. They burnt clothes and food and brutally attacked us. We need help from the International Community to rescue us from the hands of these Tunisians. This happened 10 kilometers from the Tunisia capital. Other Tunisians came to take our belongings after the attack launched on us by the Tunisian police.”

In 2023, Tunisian President Kais Saied said on Saturday that Tunisia would not accept becoming a border guard for other countries ahead of a planned visit by European leaders concerned at the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba