76 Senegalese Repatriated From Tunisia Amid Tunisia's President's Controversial Speech

Senegal on Thursday repatriated 76 compatriots from Tunisia and neighbouring Libya, the Senegalese government announced on Friday.

It is the latest Sub-Saharan country to repatriate nationals after Tunisian President Kais Saied declared on February 21 that the presence of other nationals in the country posed a security risk.

He claimed that "hordes" of illegal immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa were a source of "violence and crime" as well as a "criminal enterprise" aimed at "changing the demographic composition" of the country.

Following these words, there were numerous attacks on immigrants, and hundreds of them were asked to return to their embassies.

The Senegalese government established a crisis unit and a registry to track down potential returnees.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement published on Friday that 76 people registered and established in Tunisia and Libya were repatriated on Thursday by a flight of the national airline Air Senegal.

The ministry did not specify how many people were repatriated from each country. It also did not explain why Libyan nationals were brought back.

Libya has been mired in a major political crisis since Muammar Gaddafi's overthrow in 2011 after 42 years of dictatorship.

Unlike its neighbours Guinea and Mali, Senegal has been quiet about the repatriation.

On March 4, Senegalese authorities prohibited a protest demonstration in front of the Tunisian embassy in Dakar in response to the Tunisian president's remarks.

Senegalese President Macky Sall said in a statement on March 10 that he met with Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali the same day.

"We talked about topics of mutual interest. I appreciated his appeasement measures in light of the current situation", he stated.