Tunis, August 10 — President Kais Saied paid an unannounced visit to Gabes Governorate on Monday to assess the environmental situation and review the main issues facing it, stressing the importance of urgently addressing outstanding environmental problems, particularly pollution.
The President underscored the need to tackle the sources of pollution and end their repercussions by devising urgent and effective solutions, while working to resolve the underlying structural problems over the longer term.
The visit comes as part of the Presidency's follow-up of the environmental situation in Gabes, which in recent years has seen growing public demands to end industrial pollution, particularly in the vicinity of facilities operated by the Tunisian Chemical Group.
Saied had previously tasked a working team with devising urgent solutions to the environmental situation in Gabes. In January 2026, he received the team's final report and recommendations, stressing at the time his determination to take the necessary measures, particularly at the technical, financial and structural levels, to eliminate the sources of pollution in the city.
The pollution crisis in Gabes is primarily linked to industrial activities involving phosphate processing and the production of fertilisers and chemicals, which over decades have resulted in emissions and the discharge of industrial waste into the marine environment.
