The bodies of 13 Sudanese migrants have been recovered and 27 others are missing after a boat sank on Wednesday off the coast of Tunisia having set off from Sfax, a Tunisian judicial official said on Thursday.
The city of Sfax, Tunisia
The bodies of 13 Sudanese migrants have been recovered and 27 others are missing after a boat sank on Wednesday off the coast of Tunisia having set off from Sfax, a Tunisian judicial official said on Thursday.
The boat was carrying 42 people, all of them Sudanese, and two people were rescued, the judge Farid Ben Jha said.
Tunisia 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.
The country has seen a record wave of migration since last year, with frequent catastrophes involving boats sinking off its coast as they carry migrants from sub-Saharan Africa hoping to reach Italy.
In 2023 the Tunisian coast guard recovered the bodies of nearly 1,000 migrants drowned off its coast, Tunisian officials said, more than in any other year.
Tunisians have also been among those trying to make the crossing. About 40 Tunisian migrants wet missing last month after setting off in a boat towards Italy.
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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