Tunisia said it would not be the border guards for other countries amid a surge in flows to Italy.

“Tunisia cannot under any circumstances act as a border guard for other countries,” said Tunisian Interior Minister Kamel Feki in a video statement released by his ministry.

Feki stressed that the north African country cannot absorb massive flows of irregular migrants beyond its social and financial capacities, nor can it act as a host country.

And he added that the immigration issue requires reciprocal concessions from the richer nations.

So he sent a message to the migrant rescue NGOs, which he said are manipulating the migration issue for the interests of the Europeans.

Italy and Europe signed a memorandum of understanding with Tunis this summer providing for a rise in the fight against traffickers and subsidies to keep migration at bay, the first tranche of which was released this week.

Italy’s rightwing government says NGOs are a pull factor for migrants while critics says NGOs only rescue less than 10% of the migrants in the central Mediterranean who end up in Italy.

Via ANSA