A record 1,313 migrants were reported to have died or went missing off the Tunisian coast last year, a rights group said on Tuesday, highlighting the worsening migrant crisis in the North Africa country.
Tunisian coast guards try to stop migrants at sea during their attempt to cross to Italy, off the coast off Sfax, Tunisia, Reuters/Jihed Abidellaoui
A record 1,313 migrants were reported to have died or went missing off the Tunisian coast last year, a rights group said on Tuesday, highlighting the worsening migrant crisis in the North Africa country.
The number represented about 75% of the number of dead or missing off the coasts of Italy, Libya and Malta, Ramadan Ben Amor, an official at the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights told Reuters.
Tunisia has replaced Libya as north Africa's main departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict elsewhere in Africa and across the Middle East in the hope of a better life in Europe.
And with improving weather since January, the influx of African migrants, including Tunisians, in boats heading for Italy has increased.
About 100 migrants have died or gone missing off the Tunisian coast since mid-January.
Reporting by Tarek Amara
Human Rights Watch has accused an Abu Dhabi-based security company of recruiting Colombian private military contractors and deploying them to fight alongside Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) between 2024 and 2025, adding to what the rights group describes as a growing body of evidence of Emirati military support for the paramilitary group.
Farmers across Sudan say the hike in global fuel and fertilizer costs resulting from the Iran conflict will force them to cut back on planting this summer, restricting food production in a country where war has caused acute hunger.
At least nine people were killed and six others injured when a four-storey building collapsed overnight in the Moroccan city of Fez, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Rabat, local authorities said on Thursday.
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