Hommam Al Nassim 
Statistical data from the General Directorate of the Tunisian Guard indicate that Tunisian authorities thwarted 50 illegal immigration attempts on the coast of Sfax governorate in the past 72 hours, in addition to repelling and rescuing 1,986 migrants.
The Tunisian Naval Guard thwarted 28 irregular migration attempts across the maritime border and rescued 1,178 migrants who were intending to reach Italy from the coast of Sfax province.
According to a statement issued by the Tunisian Guard on Saturday, the floating units of the Central Naval Guard region managed to thwart 28 operations to cross the maritime border surreptitiously and rescue 1,178 and rescue them.
Among the clandestine migrants are 18 Tunisians, while the rest are sub-Saharan Africans, the statement said, also noting that two bodies had been recovered.
Two days ago, the Marine Guard announced the rescue of 633 migrants on 14 clandestine flights, while eight crossings were thwarted on Thursday, bringing the total number of those rescued, repelled, and recovered to about 2,000, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries.
The Tunisian Navy Guard succeeded in significantly reducing migration waves from the coast by the beginning of 2024, compared to the record 2023 flows that saw more than 150,000 migrants arrive on Italian shores. Two-thirds of these numbers came from the coast of Tunisia.
The decline in migration flows from the central Mediterranean region is seen by the EU as an indication of the effectiveness of the memorandum of understanding leading to the Association Agreement, signed by the European Commission with Tunisia in July 2023, which includes €105 million in funding for the Maritime Guard sector and €150 million to support the state budget out of a €900 million financial aid package.
The Financial Times reported on Sunday that the European Union would provide Tunisian security forces with up to 164.5 million euros ($177.74 million) over three years.
The same newspaper quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying that Brussels pledged 105 million euros in funding to Tunisia related to curbing migration in an agreement signed last year, but most of it has not been disbursed so far.
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