Strike shuts Tunisia mining town over infrastructure woes

TUNIS: Schools and businesses in Om Laarayes, a major Tunisian mining town, shut down Thursday as a general strike protested deteriorating infrastructure, days after a deadly road accident.
The regional URT labor union, part of the powerful UGTT trade federation, called for the strike to demand improvements to the southwestern town’s infrastructure and health care.
“All schools, shops and local institutions have shut down in protest against the deteriorating state of infrastructure,” said URT secretary-general Mohamed Sghaier Miraoui.
The strike followed a road accident on Tuesday when a bus collided with a truck in the town, killing six people and injuring nine.
“This tragic accident has sparked outrage among residents of our neglected region,” Miraoui told AFP.
“Such incidents are frequent because we still lack basic infrastructure Public transport is inadequate, and our hospital is poorly equipped even for emergency care, while the morgue cannot properly accommodate bodies.”
Despite its phosphate wealth, Om Laarayes, home to 40,000 people, remains underdeveloped.
“Our town is a mining city and has natural resources,” said Miraoui. “It should be among the main regions with infrastructure.”
Many inland areas of Tunisia struggle with social and economic hardship, unlike wealthier coastal cities.
Protests have been common in these regions since the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring uprisings.
In the mining hub of Gafsa, people have long demanded better infrastructure and jobs by reviving phosphate production.
Tunisia produced eight million tons of phosphate in 2010 but has only been producing up to half of that in recent years due to underinvestment and recurring social unrest.
Phosphates, one of Tunisia’s few natural resources, are a key ingredient in fertilizers.