Maghreb

Tunisia’s Muslim Brotherhood and The Forgotten Promise: Gabès Ignites Retroactively


In 2017, Tunisia’s Muslim Brotherhood pledged to dismantle the so-called “Death Complex” in the governorate of Gabès, but their promise turned out to be nothing more than a palliative meant to delay public anger.

Years passed under their rule before the people ousted them from power, leaving behind a legacy of unresolved crises — among them, the severe pollution caused by the chemical industries complex in Gabès.

Although they had long ignored the plight of this southeastern region, Islamist leaders have recently reappeared amid growing protests demanding immediate and lasting solutions, attempting to ride the wave of discontent and inject discord into an otherwise peaceful movement.

“A deadly poison”

Since early September, Ikram’s son has been hospitalized three times in Gabès after inhaling toxic gases.

Speaking to Agence France-Presse, the mother said the emissions came from an aging chemical complex and demanded, along with dozens of other victims of poisoning, that the site be shut down.

“This factory is a deadly poison — it must go,” she cried, explaining that her 12-year-old son Ahmed had suffocated from the fumes released by the fertilizer plant run by the state-owned “Tunisian Chemical Group,” like many other residents of the nearby neighborhoods.

Her son, Ahmed al-Sarrai, told AFP: “I was in class when my throat started burning and my head hurt — then I blacked out.”

The boy attends “Shatt al-Salam” primary school, located close to the vast industrial complex that belches gray smoke into the air day and night.

Not far away, his classmate Amna Mrabet felt her chest “on fire” before she “vomited.” Her eyes were swollen, her face pale, and she has been limping since leaving the hospital. Her mother, Hajar, said she refuses to send her back to school “until the authorities find a solution.”

Within a single month, about 200 residents from neighborhoods near the complex received treatment for poisoning symptoms — including 122 cases reported last Tuesday, according to local authorities.

“Stop the pollution”

Municipal council member Ahmed Qafrach told AFP that “these symptoms are caused by gas leaks from the units of the Tunisian Chemical Group.”

He added that “such incidents are not new, but their frequency — four times in September and twice since early October — makes them more serious than ever before.”

The complex uses sulfuric acid and ammonia to produce phosphate-based materials.

The Tunisian Chemical Group did not respond to AFP’s request for comment regarding the state of its facilities, established in 1972 and viewed by residents as the main source of the city’s chronic pollution.

Environmental activist Khair Eddine Dabbia said the toxic emissions result from “the dilapidated, outdated polluting units installed more than 53 years ago and a total lack of maintenance.”

He also pointed to “an increase in production that far exceeds the site’s technical capacity,” arguing that the only viable solution is the plant’s “complete dismantling.”

Dabbia has led the “Stop the Pollution” campaign for a decade, denouncing the plant’s damage to the environment and public health.

According to the campaign and several studies, the waste discharged by the Tunisian Chemical Group has polluted beaches and soil, destroyed marine ecosystems, and contributed to an abnormal rise in respiratory illnesses and cancer cases.

Thousands of residents took to the streets on Wednesday, demanding the closure of the polluting units.

Security forces dispersed the demonstrators using tear gas as they held banners calling for an “end to environmental crimes” and for “climate justice.”

“The protest achieved its goal: the Gabès issue has become a top priority for its residents,” said Dabbia.

The Brotherhood’s legacy

Under the Brotherhood’s government, Tunisian authorities pledged in 2017 to dismantle the complex — which employs around 4,000 people in an area plagued by unemployment — and to replace it with an environmentally compliant facility.

None of these promises were fulfilled during their years in power.

A group of lawyers now plans to file a lawsuit against the “Tunisian Chemical Group” on behalf of the recently poisoned students.

Lawyer Mehdi Talmoudi, head of the defense committee for the students, stated that an initial emergency motion will be submitted to the Gabès Court of First Instance to halt operations at the polluting units, followed by another lawsuit demanding the plant’s dismantling.

President Kaïs Saïed had previously called for a five-fold increase in phosphate-based fertilizer production by 2030 — from roughly three million tons per year to fourteen million — to benefit from rising global prices.

Last week, he attributed the poisoning cases to maintenance failures and dispatched an urgent team from the Ministries of Energy and Environment to Gabès, though experts remain skeptical about the feasibility of fully decontaminating the site.

Meanwhile, 58-year-old Radhia al-Sarrai, Ahmed’s relative and a cancer patient recently hospitalized for poisoning, has lost all hope.

“Nothing will change,” she said despairingly. “The complex that’s killing us will stay.”

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