tunisian president orders army to protect oil and gas fields
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Tunisian president orders army to protect oil and gas fields

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Tunisian president orders army to protect oil and gas fields

Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi
Tunis - Arab Today

Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi on Wednesday ordered the army to protect phosphate, gas and oil production facilities after protests aimed at disrupting output broke out in the south of the country.

It is the first time troops in Tunisia will be deployed to protect industrial installations that are key to Tunisia's economy. 

Protests, sit-ins and strikes in recent years have cost the state billions of dollars.

For several weeks, about 1,000 protesters in Tatouine province, where Italy's ENI and Austria's OMV have gas operations, have been demanding jobs and a share in revenue for the area's natural resources.

Protests have also broken out in another southern province, Kebili.

Six years after its Arab Spring uprising bought democracy, Tunisia is trying to enact sensitive reforms to help growth, but many unemployed youth in the marginalised south still feel they have gained few opportunities.

The military deployment will take place immediately, Essebsi said.

"It is a serious decision, but it must be applied to protect our resources," he said in a speech to the nation. "Our democratic path has become threatened and law must be applied but we will respect freedoms."

A local resident in the southern Metaloui region - the heartland of Tunisia's phosphate production - said troops in trucks arrived on Wednesday and started setting up barbed wire barricades around facilities.

OMV has taken out around 700 non-essential staff and contractors from its operations in the south there as a precaution, and Perenco and Canada-based Serinus Energy have either halted some production or closed gas fields.

Tunisia is a small oil and gas producer compared to its OPEC neighbours Libya and Algeria, with production around 44,000 barrels per day. Protests that have hit the phosphate sector in past years cost the country more than $2 billion, according to officials.

But production there has returned to the highest levels since 2010 after officials negotiated deals with protesters.

The government expects to double its phosphate production to 6.5 million tonnes in 2017.

Tourism, another key earner for the government accounting for about 8 per cent of GDP, was badly hit by two extremist militant attacks on foreigners in 2015.

Bookings are returning and officials expected 30 per cent tourism growth this year.

Protests often flare up in the southern and central regions of Tunisia, where in December 2010 a young street vendor set himself on fire in desperation, triggering the revolution weeks later that ended the rule of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and spread across the region against other autocratic regimes.

While Tunisia's democracy has advanced with free elections and a new constitution, the economic malaise and frustrations that helped spark the 2011 uprising still simmer in parts of the country where development and jobs are scarce.

Source: Timesofoman

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

tunisian president orders army to protect oil and gas fields tunisian president orders army to protect oil and gas fields

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

tunisian president orders army to protect oil and gas fields tunisian president orders army to protect oil and gas fields

 



GMT 03:17 2016 Tuesday ,09 August

Italy gets two shooting medals

GMT 07:12 2017 Sunday ,29 October

Rodrigo keeps Valencia rolling, Atletico held

GMT 09:47 2017 Wednesday ,27 December

Ashraf reveals date of his new performance

GMT 19:33 2017 Thursday ,13 April

AGCFF Holds Meeting, Approves Gulf Cup Regulations

GMT 04:05 2017 Saturday ,29 July

Climate change will feed wildfires: experts

GMT 15:07 2017 Saturday ,19 August

Firms flock to Syria fair with eye on reconstruction

GMT 20:21 2017 Wednesday ,06 September

Toronto film fest looks at survival

GMT 18:33 2017 Tuesday ,14 February

ISIS pledges conducting violent attacks in Spain

GMT 16:17 2017 Wednesday ,04 October

Negotiations to set up Russian industrial zone

GMT 10:02 2016 Thursday ,01 December

Brazil central bank cuts interest rate again

GMT 10:31 2017 Monday ,03 July

Youssra prepares for her new TV program

GMT 22:25 2017 Friday ,07 July

4 women shot dead in US State of Oklahoma

GMT 22:43 2016 Thursday ,22 September

Foreign exchange rates in Singapore
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday