Tunisian Prime Minister calls on security forces to intervene 

Tunisia is preparing to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Tunisian revolution on 17 December in the form of mass demonstrations and general strikes. These protests, which are largely peaceful and secular in nature, call for work and freedom.  

The mobilisations have increased, ten years later, in the last few weeks in the disadvantaged regions of the south and centre. Tunisia has been through nine different governments and none has managed to solve the country's economic problems. High inflation, unemployment and corruption are the main problems that Tunisians have been denouncing ever since, which has led to the fall of several executives.   

Following a meeting with the defence minister, Ibrahim Bartagi, the justice minister, Mohamed Boussetta, and the interior minister, Taoufik Charfeddine, the Tunisian head of government has asked the security forces to intervene "immediately". According to AFP, to contain the demonstrators who are blocking industrial production centres, following a series of social mobilisations throughout the country.   

The demonstrators are blocking roads, energy and natural resource production sites, demanding investment and jobs. In the neighbouring region of Gafsa (centre-west), phosphate extraction, one of Tunisia's few natural resources, has been paralysed for several days due to the demonstrations.  

Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi stressed "the need for immediate action (...) to open up the roads and restart the production sites". Phosphate plants are the subject of recurrent mobilisations, in particular to claim jobs for the region's young people in this public enterprise.  

Gafsa Phosphate Company has produced less than four million tonnes per year since the 2011 revolution, compared to more than eight million tonnes in 2010. In 2020, it is expected to produce only three million tonnes of phosphate, according to CPG.   

Other strikes have taken place at the gas bottling plant in Gabès (Centre-East), which has led to a shortage in a large area, affecting the important port city of Sfax; tensions that have been aggravated by the arrival of winter and the cold.  

These movements come after the inhabitants of Tataouine (south) reached an agreement with the government after several months of blocking oil production in the Sahara. On 7 November the government promised them jobs and a fund to finance projects in the governorate, promises that have so far gone unfulfilled.  

Tunisia, whose difficulties have been exacerbated by the pandemic, is facing a historical decline in GDP of -7 percent and expects a record budget deficit in 2020, according to AFP.