GABES, Tunisia: Hundreds of people in southern Tunisia’s Gabes on Friday protested to demand dismantling a local phosphate processing plant after reports of respiratory distress among residents.
Demonstrators called for the “dismantling of the chemical group,” chanting “We want to live” and “Gabes is a victim of pollution and injustice.”
Local campaign group Stop Pollution called for the protest after videos circulated on social media showing local schoolchildren struggling to breathe in a classroom.
The footage, which AFP could not independently verify, showed civil protection officers and worried parents rushing to assist the students.
Last month, local reports said some 20 people had been hospitalized with respiratory problems as the plant is accused of spewing toxic waste into the sea and air.
The processing of phosphate rock into fertilizer emits toxic gases such as sulfur dioxide and ammonia.
The main solid waste product is phosphogypsum, which the plant discharges into the Mediterranean.
It contains radium that decays into radon gas, which is radioactive and can cause cancer.
Residents of Gabes, a city of around 400,000 people, have been campaigning for decades against the pollution from the plant, finally winning a promise from the government in 2017 to begin its gradual closure.
But with Tunisia now mired in public debt, the current government has backtracked on that promise and is planning a fivefold increase in fertilizer output at Gabes in a bid to boost hard currency earnings.
The North African country used to be the world’s fifth largest producer of fertilizer, but has dropped to 10th over the past decade and a half.
President Kais Saied has vowed to revitalize the sector and reverse long years of underinvestment in the Gabes plant.
The state-run Tunisian Chemical Group (GCT), which operates the plant, was inaugurated in 1972. Phosphate mining and processing remain one of Tunisia’s main natural resources.
Residents in southern Tunisia protest phosphate pollution
https://arab.news/8ujjn
Residents in southern Tunisia protest phosphate pollution
- Demonstrators called for the “dismantling of the chemical group,” chanting “We want to live“
- Local campaign group Stop Pollution called for the protest
US Congress moves toward repeal of tough ‘Caesar’ sanctions on Syria
- The Caesar sanctions, the most stringent restrictions, can only be removed permanently by an act of Congress
- Several Saudi Arabian firms are planning billion-dollar investments in the country as part of Riyadh’s drive to support the country’s recovery
WASHINGTON: A set of tough US sanctions imposed on Syria under its former leader Bashar Assad could be lifted within weeks, after their repeal was included in a sweeping defense policy bill unveiled during the weekend and due for votes in Congress within days. The Senate and House of Representatives included repeal of the so-called Caesar sanctions, a move seen as key to Syria’s economic recovery, in a compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a sweeping annual defense policy bill that was unveiled late on Sunday.
The provision in the 3,000-page defense bill repeals the 2019 Caesar Act and requires regular reports from the White House certifying that Syria’s government is fighting Daesh militants, upholding religious and ethnic minority rights within the country and not taking unilateral, unprovoked military action against its neighbors, including Israel.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Sanctions relief seen as key to Syrian economic revival
• US bill including repeal expected to pass within weeks
• Trump has temporarily lifted sanctions, Congress must approve permanent relief
The NDAA is expected to pass by the end of this year and be signed into law by President Donald Trump, whose fellow Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate and lead the committees that wrote the bill. Lifting the sanctions is considered a key to the success of Syria’s new government. Several Saudi Arabian firms are planning billion-dollar investments in the country as part of Riyadh’s drive to support the country’s recovery. The US sanctions have been a significant obstacle to Syria’s economic revival.
Trump announced plans to lift all sanctions on Syria during a meeting with Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa in May, and his administration has suspended them temporarily. However, the Caesar sanctions, the most stringent restrictions, can only be removed permanently by an act of Congress.
The 2019 Caesar Act imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Syria targeting individuals, companies and institutions linked to Assad, who was the president of Syria from 2000 until his ouster in 2024 by rebel forces led by Sharaa. Syrian central bank Governor AbdulKader Husrieh told Reuters last week that the country’s economy was growing faster than had been expected. He described the repeal of many US sanctions as “a miracle.”
The sanctions are named after a Syrian military photographer, code-named “Caesar,” who smuggled out thousands of gruesome photos documenting torture and war crimes by Assad’s government.
