Tunisia: the struggle with the desert and the never extinguished sparks of the Arab Spring, while the economic crisis and liberticidal laws undermine stability

TUNIS – Kaïs Saïed, the Tunisian Rais, knows that he is walking like a tightrope walker on a tightrope, poised on an overhang. He and his country, suffocated by an exhausting financial crisis, have been negotiating for months a loan of one billion and 900 million dollars with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But doubts about whether or not to accept that loan, which would require severe restrictions and would impose the abolition of the numerous subsidies given to contain the social upheavals (already underway), have caused the transfer procedure to stall since last October.

The bottlenecks of the IMF and the people’s doubts about Rais. Basically, the IMF is asking for the cancellation of economic aid for the purchase of bread and milk, but Saïed is well aware of the risks he would run if he eliminated them. The agreement with the IMF is ready, but it hasn’t been signed yet and the international community, led by Europe and the United States, are putting pressure on it to avert bankruptcy and the inevitable increase in migratory flows, which are already growing. In short, the “non-party” president, the former constitutional law professor, at the top of power since 2019 thanks to his anti-corruption slogans, elected with 72.7% of the votes, is today on that rope and risks falling at any moment. So far it has been supported only by its frequent authoritarian crackdowns and largely also by neighboring European governments which, in any case, have above all the stability of Tunisia at heart, despite everything. A part of the people still supports him, but another part no longer seems willing to swallow bitter morsels of liberticides, which are increasingly tarnishing the image of Saïed, an honest man in the fight against the corrupt.

The crisis in the country. So far, therefore, Saïed is in his place, at the head of a nation that has been walking towards the liberalization and privatization of the economy for 50 years, and where the first pushes towards forms of advanced democracy have germinated with the first “Arab Spring”, began in Sidi Bouzid, 360 km south of Tunis, when Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old greengrocer, set himself on fire in the town square to protest against the revocation of his trading licence. Today, the president finds himself having to deal with a corruption that seems almost endemic and with a crisis for which there is no way out. Accepting IMF funding means embarking on an austerity policy that could cost him dearly at home, but rejecting the proposal would mean having to face rising social tensions.

The karst river of the Italian Cooperation. It is in this context that the interventions of the Italian Cooperation move. We were in Tunisia, guests of theItalian development agency (AICS) just as on the Avenue Bourguiba, almost every day, there were demonstrations by associations and groups involved in the defense of human rights, against the restrictive decisions of Saïed. But the challenge in reporting what this long journey across the country has shown is now to take a step aside, leaving behind the news of the moment on social unrest, to give an account of how much international aid, especially Italian aid, is contributing to the growth of the company, from the 80s to today. And reveal the long-term effects produced by the “karst river” of the Italian Cooperation, which flows here in any case and in spite of everything. Just as it flows wherever in the world it is needed, according to choices linked to logics that are certainly diplomatic-geopolitical (the prevailing ones) but also more strictly humanitarian.

The AICS office in Tunis. So here we are, setting off along an itinerary mapped out by the office of the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development, directed in Tunisia by Andrea Senatori, who works with a staff made up of the deputy director, Annamaria Meligrana, the head of the development sector, Alessia Trebuiani and by Valeria Lonni, as well as by the contact person for Communication, Martina Palazzo.

Travel. It started from Gafsa, about 360 km south of Tunis; continued to Hezoua, 150km further southwest; then to Tozeur, about 60 km to then continue for another 350 north-east, up to Ettamir, through the desert; then to Rjim Maatoung, due south for another 485km; and then to Djerba, by the sea, after 320 km; and again towards the south, at Zarzis, after about fifty km; finally north again, towards Tunis, after another 540 km; and again in Bizerte, on the penultimate day, about seventy kilometers north of the capital.

In Gafsa.

A lake in the hot sand. The journey began here, about 360 km south of Tunis, in the central part of the country. In these first days of March the sky was overcast, but the mild climate already heralded spring. It is a mining city, home to important deposits of phosphate, with a very old medina, one of the oldest in the country, and shades of colors reminiscent of wheat and dates. In 2014 in Gafsa a lake was suddenly born from the hot sand, perhaps due to the breaking of an underground water table: a small oasis that offers refreshment and shelter in the summer, when temperatures reach and exceed forty degrees. In Gafsa, the Italian Cooperation supports a small company of natural and organic cosmetics, born in the industrial area of ​​the city: Phytoessentia Laboratories.

Making soaps in Tunisia. Phytoessentia Laboratories is a small company born seven years ago. Thanks to AICS – which intervened with a credit of 73 million at 4 per cent – it was able to purchase new materials from a company in Varese to increase and modernize production. The laboratories she is female. The idea of ​​founding it, in one of the oldest and most traditional places in Tunisia, came from Hela Ghorbel Touhani, who is a biologist by profession. The soaps produced by the laboratory have delicate, sensual fragrances, almost reflecting the landscape. Like the scent of Gardenia soap, for example, which is both warm and airy, a harmonious synthesis of the wind and sun typical of this place halfway between the steppe and the Sahara desert. For Touhani, entrepreneurship is a family affair. Her husband Iheb Touhami, an engineer, is also an entrepreneur: he manufactures wall and floor tiles, with the colors and designs typical of Tunisia and is looking for outlets on the European market. He too benefits from a credit line from the Italian Cooperation.

In Hezoua.

The date economy and modern oases. In these parts it is difficult to escape the disturbing charm of the desert, that silent “nothing” that is sometimes a little scary, charged as it is with spirituality and literary suggestions. Just a couple of kilometers from the Algerian border, an urban settlement was born taken away from the sands of the Sahara and to which AICS funding was used for the construction of roads and sidewalks, for public lighting, for drinking water in the houses . All this after a tiring and long journey through the bureaucratic jungle of a country, where the links of the public administration are still tight and full of pitfalls linked to widespread corruption.

The battle against the desert. In Hezoua, we meet Remo Zulli, a very lively and passionate agronomist, responsible for AICS projects, who gives his tenacious contribution against the threat of desertification. With Zulli we visit the rural project of Hezoua and Tamerza, in the governorate of Tozeur, where highly advanced irrigation systems have been installed, which halve the amount of water needed by the numerous date palm groves. 35 electric pumps have been installed to reinforce the capacity of the public agricultural structures and interventions have been carried out to protect against the advancing sand of the Sahara; the improvement of agricultural production; the diversification of sources of income for the rural population. But there is also another objective, not written in the official documents, but which perhaps represents one of the main reasons for the project: the need to stabilize the nomadic communities in this border area, where the demarcation line between a State and the another is traced with a pencil and where human settlements and representatives of state institutions are indispensable.

To Rjim Mauutoung.

The rehabilitation of date palm groves. Here, in the governorate of Kibili, in the desert south-west of Tunisia, one only becomes aware of the desert by the sand that gets into one’s shoes. The endless expanses of sand are interrupted by the shade of the date palm groves, which for centuries have made the economy of this country flourish, in a very luxuriant oasis. The approximately 20 million euros invested by the Italian Cooperation has given results here that appear miraculous. Just look at the dense cultivation of plants, moreover in an area with very high unemployment rates, especially of young potential migrants. Now the project is in the final phase, it will be completed by December. In 2024, activities in support of private investments will continue, with technical assistance and micro-credit interventions, for a total of 1 million euros.

The hectares stolen from desertification. During the implementation of this project, 2,300 hectares of land were stolen from the desert. And a decent income has been given to around 1,300 families. The villages have filled with houses, about 1,300, 6 primary schools, a high school, a dispensary for medicines, two mosques and various other commercial and administrative buildings. At the moment, there are about 7,000 residents in an area that produces about 17,000 tons of dates a year, or 5% of the entire national production. Naturally, in places like these, where the sun and light are never lacking, environmental sustainability can only be entrusted to investments in photovoltaics, for the production of electricity and the replacement of “drip” irrigation systems.