‘Migration capital of the Med’: hope and fear on unwelcoming streets of Tunisia

As sea crossings increase sharply amid racist violence, for some the dream has become just too dangerous

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On a recent afternoon in the Tunisian coastal city of Sfax, as shoppers hurried around a market buying food and drink for that evening's iftar meal, a small group of men from sub-Saharan Africa gathered near a stall selling phone accessories.

One of them, Joseph, had made a two-week journey to the city from Cameroon eight months ago. His plan, like thousands before him fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East in the hope of a better life, had been to board a boat from near Sfax and cross the Mediterranean to Europe.