Tunisian Interior Minister Khaled Al-Nouri said today, Friday, in a plenary session in front of Parliament in both chambers, that the authorities have deported more than ten thousand irregular immigrants from January 1 to October 31.
The minister added that ten thousand and 254 immigrants were deported to their countries of origin, highlighting that the number is likely to increase during the coming period. It is not clear whether the number includes the total number of deportees, including those forcibly deported, as well as those who left as part of the voluntary return programme, supported by the International Organization for Migration and foreign donor countries.
The Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported two days ago that more than six thousand returned to their countries this year, as part of the voluntary return program, which includes opportunities for economic and social reintegration in the countries of origin. According to the Tunisian authorities and the International Organization for Migration, since its launch in 2022, more than 26,300 migrants have benefited from this programme, most of them from sub-Saharan African countries.
Minister Al-Nouri also explained that the ministry works according to a participatory approach, in coordination with the ministries of National Defense and Foreign Affairs, and through cooperation with national and international organizations. He said that the military units arrested more than 1,500 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries, during operations to confront crimes of terrorism, smuggling, and cross-border crimes. It also arrested 1,564 migrants while securing mountainous areas and land and sea borders. This outcome includes the period from September 2025 to the end of September 2026.
The minister added that efforts are continuing to place an earthen berm along the entire eastern border strip, with the completion of a parallel trench extending along a length of 95 kilometers, with the aim of enhancing border security and confronting infiltration and smuggling operations.
Tunisia is working to strengthen the electronic surveillance system on its borders, through partnerships with countries such as Germany, the United States, Italy, and the European Union.
Egypt stressed the importance of the European role in ensuring Israel’s commitment to its pledges in the Gaza Strip, including achieving “early recovery” without obstacles, at a time when the Strip is suffering from deteriorating humanitarian conditions as a result of a depression that struck it last week, and after Israel escalated its operations by targeting the “Nasser Medical Complex,” on Thursday evening.
The Egyptian confirmation came during a meeting held by Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Ati with the European Union’s Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process, Christophe Piguet, on Friday, on the sidelines of the “Sir Bani Yas” Forum in the United Arab Emirates.
Ambassador Nader Zaki, the official spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that the meeting dealt with efforts to stabilize the ceasefire in Gaza and implement the second phase of the comprehensive plan to end the conflict, including empowering the “National Committee for Gaza Administration,” implementing security arrangements and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
In this regard, Abdel-Aty stressed “the importance of the European role in ensuring Israel’s commitment to its pledges, and the unimpeded access of humanitarian aid and shelter and early recovery supplies,” according to a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Friday.
Egypt had affirmed its “categorical rejection of the continued targeting of health facilities and medical personnel in the Gaza Strip,” and considered it “a blatant violation of the provisions of international humanitarian law, and an undermining of the efforts aimed at establishing the ceasefire and improving the humanitarian conditions in the Strip.”
She called on “the international community to assume its responsibilities to ensure respect for the ceasefire agreement and to prevent the recurrence of these attacks, in a way that creates the conditions for completing the implementation of the peace plan and achieving security and stability in the Gaza Strip.”
The Tunisian General Labor Union and national and human rights organizations called for participation in a protest movement against the Finance Law of 2027, on the anniversary of the revolution, which falls on December 17th.
This is the latest planned move by the Labor Union, the largest union in Tunisia, and civil society, after a series of organized marches against the policies of the authorities, led by President Kais Saied with broad powers, high prices and restrictions against public freedoms. The coordination is led in particular by the Union, the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, the Bar Association, the Journalists Syndicate, and other civil society organizations.
The coordination opposes what it considers to be the entrenchment of tax pressure in the Finance Law, the lack of tax justice, the decline in investment, the decline in public services, the rise in prices, and the deterioration of the purchasing power of large sectors of Tunisians. The Coordination Committee said that the Finance Law, which is being discussed in Parliament, is not an economic rescue or social reform project, but rather it burdens wage earners and vulnerable groups with the cost of the crisis, in exchange for the absence of political responsibility for failure and negligence.
In this regard, Ramadan Ben Omar, an activist specializing in issues related to economic and social rights and immigration, said: “Officials are absent today, as is dialogue and communication, when we see protests for water, the right to work and for environmental demands, and instead of negotiating, the security authorities are present.” He continued, explaining: “The issue is political in its essence for the regional and even central authorities, who feel incapable of dialogue because the decision is limited to one institution.”
