Tunisia: President Saied calls utility outages ‘premeditated acts’

Tunisian President Kais Saied has characterized recent widespread water and electricity outages as ‘premeditated acts’ intended to incite tension and spread confusion. Following meetings with government officials and leaders of the state utility companies Steg (electricity) and Sonede (water), Saied claimed investigations show these disruptions are not ordinary technical failures.

The utility shortages have intensified during a period of extreme heat, with temperatures approaching 50 degrees Celsius. These conditions have driven up consumption and led to significant service interruptions, sometimes exceeding ten hours at a time. The crisis has also impacted the production of bottled water due to electricity shortages and plastic bottle scarcity, leading to rationing in supermarkets.

Beyond utility issues, the country has faced socio-economic challenges, including forest fires and a recent migrant shipwreck near Ben Guerdane. While the administration has responded to public grievances with various measures, critics note a lack of tangible improvement in living conditions and suggest the president's rhetoric often attributes systemic failures to conspiracies by ‘traitors’ and ‘Islamists’.