![Irregular migrants during an operation carried out by the Tunisian National Guard against African irregular migrants who want to reach Europe illegally via the Mediterranean Sea on June 08, 2023 in Sfax, Tunisia [Hasan Mrad/DeFodi Images via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/GettyImages-1496980513-scaled-e1687256762174.jpg?resize=1200%2C799&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
French-Congolese artist Gims has cancelled his concert in Tunisia because of how the authorities have treated black African migrants in the country over recent weeks.
Je ne trouve pas les mots .. ?@GIMS #Tunisia pic.twitter.com/ccz81jXyM2
— عفاف الغربي (@afefgharbitv) July 31, 2023
Children, women and men expelled from Tunisia to Libya live in inhuman conditions. I cannot maintain my visit to Tunisia, scheduled for August 11th. I don't know what the solution is, but this extreme distress is unbearable.
Gims is one of the biggest names in French hip hop and gained international recognition for his first single, J'me tire (I'm leaving).
A recent report released by Human Rights Watch found that Tunisian police and military had been rounding up black Africans in the country and dumping them on the border with Libya and Algeria.
READ: Libya border guard criticises forcible deportation of black Africans from Tunisia
Abuses recorded by the advocacy group, who interviewed several victims, found that they had been beaten, had their belongings stolen, and in some cases had been tortured.
In February, Tunisian President Kais Saied announced that immigration was a plot aimed at changing the country's demography and ordered security forces to take action against the "hordes" of undocumented migrants.
Since then, attacks on black Africans in Tunisia have worsened, both at the border and inside Tunisia.
Last week, a video circulated online showing a Libyan border guard in the middle of the desert with migrants who had been dumped there, slating the Tunisian government for forcibly deporting them there.
Temperatures in parts of Tunisia hit 50 degrees last week as a heatwave engulfed the region and deadly fires spread from Algeria.
On 16 July, despite reports that people were being dumped in the desert, the EU announced it was signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Tunisia which would see the North African country receiving over $100 million in exchange for stopping migrant boats departing and heading for Europe.
Human rights groups criticised the deal and said that the European Union should suspend migration control funding until a human rights impact assessment had been carried out.
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