Tunisia- The people of Gabes Governorate were greatly disappointed following the parliamentary plenary session in which the Tunisian authorities today reviewed their plan to address toxic gas emissions issued by the chemical complex that has existed in the governorate since 1972.
This comes on the eve of the governorate of Gabes in the southeast entering, tomorrow, Tuesday, a local general strike that is expected to paralyze the economic movement in the region, coinciding with an expected mass march of tens of thousands of people to protest the continuation of production in the chemical complex.
A number of residents considered that the interventions of the Ministers of Health and Equipment during the session did not provide solutions to an environmental disaster that threatens a social explosion, while others criticized the call of some representatives to militarize the chemical complex to protect it from any unrest.
Despite the government’s confirmation of the existence of a plan in the near and medium term to rehabilitate the complex and reduce toxic gases, a number of residents and activists considered that the announced decisions do not respond to their basic demand, which is to “stop production.”
Today’s session witnessed sharp criticism directed by some MPs due to the absence of Prime Minister Sarah Al-Zaafrani, the Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, and the Minister of Environment from the session, despite the fact that the environmental and security conditions are extremely dangerous.
Government projects
In his speech, Minister of Equipment Salah Al-Zouari revealed a plan extending over the short, medium and long term, which includes implementing 6 projects to rehabilitate the chemical complex, in addition to stopping the discharge of phosphogypsum (industrial waste) into the Sea of Gabes.
The Minister announced the government’s intention to resort to Chinese contractors to complete the works that have been stalled for years, stating that there is a technical team coming from China that will make a visit tomorrow, Tuesday, to the Gabès Chemical Complex to diagnose this factory.
As for Health Minister Mustafa Al-Ferjani, he confirmed – during his speech before Parliament – that the government has prepared a practical plan to rehabilitate the chemical complex based on urgent and medium-term interventions to reduce emissions and improve the environmental situation.
Al-Ferjani held previous successive governments responsible for not completing projects related to maintenance and rehabilitating the factory to reduce pollution despite allocating funds, vowing to hold accountable officials who committed negligence against the complex.
However, this speech did not find its way to most of the representatives, who expressed their rejection of what they considered to be patchwork solutions in order to absorb the anger of the people of Gabès, while one of the parliamentary blocs decided to withdraw from the session in protest against the government’s speech.
disappointment
Al Jazeera Net monitored the opinions of a number of people in Gabes Governorate, who expressed their disappointment at what they described as “repetition of previous speeches” that they had heard over decades, considering that talking about time plans without stopping production amounts to ignoring the health tragedy they have been suffering for years.
Elias Ben Ramadan, a citizen of Gabes, told Al Jazeera Net that the rehabilitation announced by the Minister of Equipment extends between 3 months and a year, and conflicts with the demands of the people to take an immediate decision to stop production and dismantle the polluting units of the complex.
In the same context, he asserts that the people of Gabès “feel disappointed because their basic demand to stop production and dismantle the polluting units that caused many bottlenecks, destroyed the environment and the sea, and caused the spread of cancer were ignored.”
Ben Ramadan also points out that the government’s handling of the marches carried out by tens of thousands of citizens in the city of Gabes was “a harsh security response that resulted in the arrest of dozens of citizens, many of whom were transferred to the capital for trial.”
He criticized what he considered a distortion of the peaceful marches, referring to the criticism leveled by some supporters of President Kais Saied that political parties were behind the people’s push to inflame the security situation to destabilize the country.
A state of tension spread throughout the city of Gabes in recent days, especially after limited confrontations between security forces and some protesters who were fired with tear gas, leading to the injury of dozens among the demonstrators.
Observers believe that the situation is likely to become more tense as the people of Gabès prepare to go out in a major popular march tomorrow, coinciding with the Regional Labor Union of Gabès approving a general strike in Gabès Governorate, in a precedent that is the first of its kind.
The protesters intend to raise their voices against the continued production of the polluting chemical complex and demand the dismantling of the industrial units, as well as demanding the release of citizens who were arrested during their peaceful protests in recent days.
For his part, citizen Adel Al-Qarawi, who lives in the Shatt Al-Salam area, 500 meters from the chemical complex, and whose five members of his family were recently affected by toxic emissions, confirms that the government’s speech “reflects disregard and indifference to the rights of the people.”
He confirms to Al Jazeera Net that “disappointment increased due to the absence of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Industry and Environment from the session,” considering this to be “an evasion of responsibility,” while the plan revealed by the Minister of Health, for him, did not live up to the people’s aspirations to stop pollution.
He believes that the authority is seeking to carry out patchwork repairs to the chemical complex to absorb the anger of the people in order to continue benefiting from the complex’s revenues, but it “turns its back on the concerns of the people who have suffocated as a result of the complex’s toxic emissions.”
He told Al Jazeera Net that the factory generates millions of dollars, while the people suffer from allergies, shortness of breath, cancer, and osteoporosis, and the fishermen face sea pollution and the destruction of fish wealth, and the soil and oases are being killed.
Procrastination policy
In turn, the leader of the Democratic Current Party, Hisham Al-Ajbouni, confirms that what is happening is an environmental crime against the people, considering in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net that the absence of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Industry, and the Minister of the Environment from the parliamentary session is an evasion of responsibility.
He told Al Jazeera Net that President Kais Saied has held 4 meetings since 2020 to date regarding the pollution file in Gabès, but despite being at the top of the hierarchy of power and responsible for drawing up public policies, he has not offered any solutions other than procrastination.
Al-Ajbouni adds, “The current government has no meaning, as it consists of administrators who do not have any powers, and they are part of the problem, while President Saied alone bears full responsibility under the constitution that he drafted to suit him.”
Since the founding of the chemical complex in the 1970s, Gabès has transformed from a green oasis and a natural bay into one of the most polluted regions of the country, as dozens of national and international studies have warned of the dangers of gaseous emissions.
# witness #video A protest in Tunis in solidarity with thousands of protesters in Gabès denouncing pollution#Tunisia #Tunisia pic.twitter.com/MeNsL5KqLa
— Ultra Tunisia Ultra Tunisia (@ultra_tunisia) October 15, 2025
The spilling of millions of tons of phosphogypsum into the sea annually from the complex caused an environmental disaster that destroyed marine life, harmed local fishing, and polluted the beaches, which negatively affected the soil, neighboring farms, and public health.
Citizens who live hundreds of meters away from industrial units suffer from daily poisoning and shortness of breath, while children have lost their immunity and fishermen are left without a source of livelihood after the Gulf waters turned into a gray swamp.