Tunisia president giving gifts to his supports while poor die, union leader says

Tunisian President Kais Saied and his government are rewarding the president’s supporters and marginalising thousands of young people who die in boats trying to escape the country’s collapsing economy, the Secretary-General of The Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) Noureddine Taboubi said yesterday.

During a UGTT conference in the city of Siliana, Taboubi criticised the authority’s handling of the victims of the Zarzis tragedy, expressing his astonishment that the victims were buried in the cemetery of strangers.

“I appreciate the struggles of the people of Zarzis and I express my sympathy for the young people who drowned at sea as a result of extreme poverty, clowning, spreading illusions and dogmatic slogans, losing basic materials and not being prepared for this crisis, as what is happening in several countries around the world,” Taboubi said.

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The city of Zarzis is witnessing a continuous wave of tension due to the drowning of 18 immigrants. Authorities buried them without identifying who the victims were.

Taboubi went on to criticise authorities’ granting of rewards to the president’s supporters. He said: “In the past, international lands were granted through nepotism, and today they are given through coordination to those who applaud more and to those who flatter the president more.”

Tunisia’s president Kais Saied is bleeding the country – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]