Tunisia fuel strike highlights growing economic and political anger

A 48-hour strike by fuel transport workers in Tunis exacerbates public frustration amid worsening public services and a deepening economic crisis.Fuel transport workers in Tunis have launched a 48-hour strike to demand better working conditions, wage increases, the disbursement of previously agreed allowances from 2019 and the settlement of social security dues.Al Jazeera correspondent Saifeddine Bouallegue reported that the strike, organised by the General Federation of Oil and Chemicals and lasting until Thursday, prompted citizens to rush to petrol stations, threatening widespread paralysis in a country that relies almost entirely on trucks for fuel distribution. Khaled Bettin, general manager of the national oil distributor Agil, confirmed that fuel remains available but urged a swift resolution to the strike to avoid further disruptions.Worsening public servicesThe union action coincides with mounting public anger across Tunisia over recurrent electricity and water outages, rising prices and medicine shortages. More than five years after President Kais Saied suspended parliament and began ruling by decree, old grievances are resurfacing as the space for civil society and political dissent narrows significantly.Experts suggested the fuel strike is a symptom of a much broader macroeconomic crisis, characterised by inflation, eroded purchasing power and the state’s inability to secure external funding.Kholoud Toumi, a Tunisian economist, told Al Jazeera that the current situation is the result of overlapping internal and external pressures.“The global economy suffers from an economic crisis and fluctuations in oil and energy prices globally, and this reflects directly on the import bill as well as the economic needs for hard currency,” Toumi told Al Jazeera. “Tunisia suffers from a crisis in providing hard currency, and this reflects on the external balance.”