On September 1st, 2023, Tunisian President Kais Saied announced the dismissal of the Director-General of the Trans-Tunisian Pipeline Company (TTPC), Moncef Al-Matousi, after publishing ARIJ’s investigation “Algeria-Tunisia gas pipeline tramples on rights of Tunisian farmers” on the Al Jazeera website.
Country:
Tunisia
Date:
September 3rd 2023
On September 1st, 2023, Tunisian President Kais Saied announced the dismissal of the Director-General of the Trans-Tunisian Pipeline Company (TTPC), Moncef Al-Matousi, after publishing ARIJ’s investigation “Algeria-Tunisia gas pipeline tramples on rights of Tunisian farmers” on the Al Jazeera website on August 26th, 2023. The investigation was prepared by journalist Jihan Nasri, and supervised by journalist Hanan Zbis.
The investigation reveals the failure of the (SERGAS) company -which represents the Italian company (Eni)- to respond to the farmers’ demands to increase the land rental prices, in addition to its failure to adhere to its promises regarding some development projects in Al-Kasserine Governorate, as a part of its social responsibility.
For more than a year, Nasri followed the efforts of farmers and landowners in Al-Kasserine Governorate to persuade the “SERGAS” company to raise the rental prices of the lands, which the Trans-Tunisian gas pipeline passes through to Italy, and their efforts to obtain their financial dues since 2020. To this end, she met with Moncef Al-Matousi, to confront him with the demands of the farmers.
