Ibrahim* has been living in Tunisia for almost two years, where he works as a construction laborer. Previously, he migrated to Libya, hoping to reach Europe from the shores of that North African country. He has not given up on his dream of Europe.

"At the end of May, I took a bus with a couple of friends, Guineans like me, from the Tunis train station to Sfax. We were supposed to meet a group there ready to cross to Lampedusa. It was friends there who informed me of the plan.

We left the Tunis train station at 11:30 pm to avoid police checks and arrests at stations during the day. Bus drivers tell you they're forbidden from selling tickets to sub-Saharan Africans, but they do it anyway; they just increase the prices. Instead of paying 23 dinars for the trip [around 6.87 euros], we had to pay 40 dinars [around 11.95 euros] for the ticket. The trip lasted 4-5 hours, without any problems.

The city of Sfax is a major departure point for migrants seeking to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa by boat. During the first months of 2024, departures from the coast of Sfax saw a record increase with more than 21,000 people irregularly leaving the country by the sea, according to the Tunisian National Guard.

'We didn't dare speak out because the police were very brutal'

It became more complicated around Sfax. Taxis also refused to take Sub-Saharan Africans and didn't want to use the taxi meter [for a fair rate]. In the rush and because of the risk, we had to pay a taxi 150 dinars [around 48 euros], instead of 10 dinars [around 2.99] per fare, to take us to the place known as "Km 10," on the outskirts of the city. We were then supposed to take a motorcycle taxi to "Km 24," the migrant camp. But after barely 10 minutes of walking, we were stopped by the National Guard.

Targeted in a country-wide 'manhunt' since President Kaïs Saïed's racist speech in February 2023, linking Black Africans to crime and blaming them for many of the economic problems in Tunisia, sub-Saharan Africans are banned from renting apartments and from working. Thousands of people are forced to survive in camps around the city of Sfax, as well as in the olive groves of the El Amra region. The migrant camps are named after the kilometers marked along the main road. Their inhabitants have no access to basic needs such as water, food, and sanitation, and receive no medical care. The informal camps are regularly dismantled by the National Guard.

The police put us into a minibus with wire mesh in place of windows and took us to the police station. There were already 15 migrants in the cells. Some had been there for ten days.

We were forced to leave all our belongings. I had to hand over my phone, my toothbrush, and my money (about 125 dinars -- around 37 euros). We didn't dare speak because they were very brutal and threatened us. We didn't ask for anything.

Late in the morning, we reached a military camp in Sfax. There were a lot of people, about 50, including migrants released from prison. They were mostly men, there were only six women. They tied our hands with plastic ties before putting us on a large bus to a new military camp in Kasserine.

There, they separated us into small groups and took us to different places on the border with Algeria, in the desert. They searched us and untied our hands. The police shouted at us to go to Algeria and beat us with their batons. They said "No Tunisia" and threatened to beat us and kill us if we came back. We were left alone with nothing, no water, no food, no phone.

Since 2023, Tunisian authorities have been arresting sub-Saharan Africans in the streets, in shops, apartments, or at their workplaces, and deporting them to the border, into the desert, to Libya or Algeria, in violation of international law. NGOs and media outlets—including InfoMigrants—have been documenting these roundups and deportations to desert areas for months. These deportations come with harassment and violence at the hands of Tunisian forces. Hundreds of people, including women and children, have died of thirst in these desert areas, according to humanitarian workers.

'We stood together to defend ourselves'

While this is Ibrahim's third attempt to cross the Mediterranean, it is the first time he has been thrown into the desert by the Tunisian authorities. Separated from the friends he had set out with, the 23-year-old finds himself in a group with five other sub-Saharan Africans.

There was a man in our group who had already been to the desert and knew the route back to Sfax. We had no choice but to follow him. But there were many arguments along the way. We were very afraid; no one thought we would leave the desert and arrive in Kasserine. When we arrived there after three days of walking, we trusted him.

In total, we walked nine days, always at night to avoid detection. The desert is scary. We cover very long distances without seeing any inhabitants. We hid during the day, trying to find trees to protect ourselves from the sun because it was very hot.

Some locals were kind and gave us food like bread and croissants, or cans of water. Sometimes, we ate only one piece of bread for several days.

But others called the police or threatened us, especially near the big cities. Bandits and homeless people attacked us and tried to rob us. To defend ourselves, we stuck together and waited until nightfall, after 10 pm, to return to the cities.

We were all young people, between 20 and 30 years old, in good health. But we had foot injuries, burns, and pain from the very long walk.

Two weeks in prison

From Kasserine, we took a hidden route toward the train tracks to avoid encountering the police.

When in Sfax, they took motorcycle taxis driven by Tunisians who took them to the olive groves where the migrant camps were located by taking small, discreet roads.

I stayed in the Km24 camp for about a month, I contacted my family and they sent me money. They knew I was going to Sfax and that I could be left in the desert if I was arrested.

Ibrahim then took the train to Tunis and got off before the main station to avoid checkpoints. Once in the capital, he returned to the apartment where he was staying with friends, on the outskirts of the city.

There were still departures from Sfax because friends told me there were convoys planned. But there were a lot of checkpoints at that moment, so I didn't want to take any risks. I don't plan on crossing right away, maybe later.

The situation is very stressful and complicated. Libya is better than Tunisia because here, when you're arrested for illegal residence, you're put in prison with criminals even though you haven't done anything wrong. I was arrested on the street and put in a prison for two weeks. It really affected me."

*We used a pseudonym to protect the source's anonymity