Tag: Tunisia

UN chief calls on Tunisia to end migrant expulsions

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Tuesday for Tunisia to stop expelling migrants into desert border areas, and demanded those already stranded in the harsh environment be relocated, a spokesperson said. “We are deeply concerned about the expulsion of migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers from Tunisia to the borders with Libya and also Algeria,” deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said. He warned that “several have died” at Tunisia’s border with Libya, while […]

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Algeria battles wildfires that have killed 34

By AFP correspondent with Abdellah Cheballah in Alger Agence France-Presse TOUDJA, Algeria (AFP) — Algerian firefighters on Tuesday battled blazes that have killed 34 people across the tinder-dry north, destroyed homes and coastal resorts, and turned vast forest areas into blackened wastelands. Witnesses described fleeing walls of flames that raged “like a blowtorch”. TV footage showed charred cars, burned-out shops and smoldering fields. Severe fires have raged through the mountain forests of the Kabylia region […]

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Four people shot dead in Tunisia synagogue attack: interior ministry

TUNIS, May 10, 2023 (AFP) – Two worshippers participating in an annual Jewish pilgrimage to a renowned Tunisian synagogue and two members of the security services were shot dead Tuesday in an attack carried out by a police officer, the interior ministry said. Four other visitors to the Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba and five more security officers were wounded in the attack before the assailant was also killed, the ministry said. In […]

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Tunisia train collision injures 95: emergency services

TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) — A head-on collision between two passenger trains injured 95 people on Monday morning in the south of the Tunisian capital, emergency services said. “The injured were taken to hospitals and there were no deaths,” civil defense spokesman Moez Triaa told AFP, adding that only one of the trains was carrying passengers. Most of the injured were suffering from fractures and bruises, none of them life-threatening, he said. Many were in shock, […]

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Tunisian eco-pioneers battle to save Sahara oasis life

by Francoise Kadri Agence France-Presse NEFTA, Tunisia (AFP) – A remote oasis in Tunisia’s desert was exhausted by decades of wasteful water use for agriculture — but now pioneers around an eco-lodge are reviving the spot with innovative projects. They hope their back-to-basics approach can keep alive the ancient Saharan caravan stop and its traditions as a sustainable alternative to the region’s high-irrigation date plantations. “Among the palm trees, everything can grow,” said Mohamed Bougaa, […]

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Tunisia to return illegally imported waste to Italy

TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) – Tunisia will return more than 280 containers of waste illegally imported from Italy in 2020, the north African country’s environment ministry said Monday. The containers were brought in by a Tunisian company that falsely claimed that the household waste — barred from import under Tunisia law — was in fact plastic scrap to be recycled. The importation had sparked widespread anger, resulting in protests in Tunisia as people demanded that Italy […]

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Tunisia recyclers struggle to tackle mountains of waste

by Aymen Jamli and Amal Belalloufi Agence France-Presse MGHIRA, Tunisia (AFP) – “When I see plastic, I see money,” says Tarek Masmoudi, owner of one of the few recycling companies in Tunisia, where a waste crisis is threatening widespread social unrest. Recycling is almost non-existent in the North African country, which produces 2.6 million tonnes of waste each year. Some 85 percent of that ends up in landfills, while much of the rest winds up […]

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Tunisia city on strike after landfill protest death

AGAREB, Tunisia (AFP) – Thousands of Tunisians went on strike and rallied Wednesday after a demonstrator died of tear gas inhalation during angry demonstrations over the reopening of a rubbish dump, as environmental crises mount in the North African country. Abderrazek Lacheheb, 35, died early Tuesday in Agareb, in the Sfax region on the central coast, after security forces used tear gas to disperse protesters. A medic and a family member said he had died of […]

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Organic farmers find fertile ground in Tunis

by Kaouther Larbi and Françoise Kadri with AFP bureaus in Rabat and Algeria Agence France-Presse TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) – Proudly displaying her freshly picked pomegranates, Tunisian farmer Sarah Shili says going organic is “the future of farming” — and as demand surges in North Africa and beyond, the sector is blooming. Shili runs Domaine Elixir Bio, a 94-hectare (230-acre) farm near Tunis that produces organic-certified vegetable, fruit and cereal crops in a way she said […]

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Thousands rally against Tunisia president’s ‘coup’

TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) — At least 6,000 Tunisians rallied on Sunday against a presidential power grab in the only democracy to have emerged from the Arab Spring uprisings a decade ago. Despite checkpoints and security screenings of protesters, it was the biggest rally yet against the actions of President Kais Saied, who on July 25 sacked the prime minister, suspended parliament and granted himself judicial powers, after months of political stalemate. Saied followed up the […]

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Tunis residents decry beaches too polluted for swimming

by Akim Rezgui with Francoise Kadri in Tunis EZZAHRA, Tunisia (AFP) — Tahar Jaouebi looks out from a beach south of Tunis remembering the 1990s, when the water was still clean enough to bathe in. “Now I can’t swim any more, and neither can my son,” he says. Jaouebi, 47, is one of hundreds of protesters who formed a human chain over the weekend to highlight the pollution plaguing the coast south of the Tunisian […]

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Tunisia holds vaccine ‘open day’ against Delta-driven spike

TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) — Tunisia on Sunday launched a Covid-19 vaccination drive for the over-40s, after receiving more than six million doses from abroad to combat surging infections. The health ministry said 551,008 people had been given jabs in more than 300 centres across the country, in what was billed as an “open day” for vaccinations. Tunisia, in the thick of political and economic crises, has received more than six million doses from Western and […]

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