Tunisia has joined the list of countries that receives Syrian refugees across the border with Algeria, just as it received African and Libyan refugees during the Libyan revolution last year; Africans settled in Choucha Camp in Ben Gardane (southern Tunisia) and received aid from international and humanitarian organizations, while still facing harsh conditions.
Displacement
Tunisia has joined the list of countries that receives Syrian refugees across the border with Algeria, just as it received African and Libyan refugees during the Libyan revolution last year; Africans settled in Choucha Camp in Ben Gardane (southern Tunisia) and received aid from international and humanitarian organizations, while still facing harsh conditions.
Displacement
According to sources at customs, there are officially 300 Syrian refugees in Tunisia, yet humanitarian organizations cite Syrian refugees in Gafsa, Kasserine, Sidi Bouzid and El Kef, at around five times that number.
Syrian newcomers have become a social phenomenon along the borders, where the great majority are in inland areas, which in turn suffer from the lack of job opportunities and development. This deepens their tragedy and daily suffering under their refusal to obtain residence cards and the inability of humanitarian organizations to help them.
Gafsa, southwest of Tunisia, is one of the most important destinations for Syrians. It has opened mosques for those who couldn’t find a refuge under rising rental rates. Some citizens have provided a number of apartments and houses at nominal prices and sometimes free of charge.
Sahar, a refugee who has come with her son from Homs and settled in Gafsa, has been begging downtown in front of Sidi Yacoub Mosque. Sahar says she has to beg like other female Syrians who wander through the city streets and nearby villages, looking for help. “We have fled death, but we have the same feeling when we beg passersby in order to feed our hungry children. Without the people’s help, we wouldn’t be able to pay the rent and we would be homeless,” she explains.
Mohammed, who also has come from Homs, says: “Rents are expensive and living conditions are difficult and complex without a job.”
Hoping to return
The hopes to return home are mixed with fears that the Assad regime will not step aside, which makes return dependant on an uncertain outcome of the on-going conflict.
This uncertainty prevents refugees like Mohammed Abu Ali and his family from getting a political asylum card, like many Syrians who have flocked across the Algerian border to the nearby Tunisian areas. Abu Ali says that he has to stay in Gafsa because he has illegally entered Tunisia and will return to his homeland as soon as the conflict in Syria ends.
For his part, Abu Firas says, “We have temporarily taken refuge and we will return to Syria. We reject political asylum cards lest we should be deemed protégés of the opposition or the government.”
No follow-up
The absent or diminished role of humanitarian and international organizations has made living conditions for Syrian refugees difficult and complex. “Local bodies face many difficulties in the identification of the Syrians who refuse to give any information on their residence conditions,” said Bashir Yahya, head of the Red Crescent branch in Gafsa. “We call on the authorities and other organizations to help us control this phenomenon before it is too late,” he added.
Abdulhamid Abdullah from the Ministry of Human Rights says that in order to solve this humanitarian problem under the friendly relations between the two countries, the Tunisian authorities are obliged by laws and international conventions to protect refugees and ensure their rights and dignity away from Tunisia’s decision to expel the Syrian ambassador.
Temporary Ids
Fathi Bilhaj, member of the Arab Observers Committee in Syria that was sent by the Arab League only a few months into the Syrian revolution to monitor the situation, says that the refugees’ fate is linked to the comprehensive solution; their return to their home country under a political solution. “Tunisian authorities must provide the refugees with a renewable temporary card, based on the development of the situation in Syria,” he added.
On the other hand, Bilhaj has deplored practices against Syrians in Tunisia, especially in areas near the Algerian border, insisting that the Arab and international organizations must ensure a temporary residence for the Syrians under good conditions that take into account human dignity where they do not become a source of blackmail by the opposition, the government or their host countries.
It is worth mentioning that the interim President Moncef Marzouki faced harsh criticism after he announced the decision to allow Arab citizens to enter Tunisia using only their identity card. His decision was rejected by many opponents in Tunisia, as well as by some neighboring countries, such as Algeria.
Most citizens express solidarity with Syrian refugees. Others express fear of the aggravation of newcomers’ conditions and demand the intervention of humanitarian organizations to control this phenomenon and keep records for Syrian refugees.
