Tunisians are Africans too!
By Emrakeb Assefa, Highway Africa News Agency (HANA)
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA June 25, 2004 Hot words were exchanged and feathers ruffled when some Tunisians thought that their identity as Africans was being challenged at the Civil Society meeting in Hammamet, Tunisia today.

The confrontation took place at a caucus meeting of the first Prepcom for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) when a discussion was held to select a civil society representative to address the inter-governmental plenary session.

Tunisian participants took strong offence when one of the people chairing the meeting referred to people from sub-Saharan Africa as “Africans”. Members of the Tunisian delegation took exception to his statement, saying that it implied Tunisians were not Africans. A heated shouting match ensued.

A Tunisian woman shouted, “We Tunisians are Africans and proud of it.” Others joined in the brawl yelling that it was an insult if Tunisians are not seen as Africans when they made sure that the WSIS was held on the African continent.

Another Tunisian man went further by saying, “We are not Europeans!” The chair attempted to explain that it was a misunderstanding but it fell on deaf ears.