Tunisia News · Friday, 21 August 2026

Who says what · Is Tunisia collapsing, or just short of investment?

Four readings of a record month, and a count that won't take a side

July brought Tunisia its highest monthly protest count in a decade, most of it over water and power cuts during a summer of record heat. That count reopened a question that predates it: is Tunisia's state failing, or just short of investment? An economist, a Brookings fellow, an activist and the government answer it from different moments over the past three months; the forum that did the counting declines to.

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Tunisia

Protests enter second month as Tunisia logs a record wave of unrest

Hundreds marched in Tunis on 20 August against President Kais Saied's rule, the second straight month of demonstrations, with protesters demanding the release of jailed opposition figures and an end to what they call one-man rule. Separately, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights counted 1,101 protest movements in July, the highest monthly total since 2016 and a 27 percent jump on June. Water and power cuts alone accounted for 678 of them, over 60 percent.

Source: Al Jazeera · Friday, 21 August 2026

Black Sea tensions push up the price of Tunisia's wheat imports

Tunisia needs to import 1.85 million tonnes of wheat in the 2026/27 season despite one of its best harvests in years, and Black Sea shipping disruption from the Russia-Ukraine war is pushing up prices, up 17 percent since early July. Tunisia has warned suppliers it will not easily accept force majeure claims for missed deliveries. Officials say the bigger risk is cost, not shortage, since the domestic harvest gives some cushion.

Source: Webdo · Thursday, 20 August 2026

Australian miner reports strong phosphate grades at new Kasserine site

Australian company PhosCo Ltd said on 19 August that all five boreholes drilled at its Gasaat exploration site in Kasserine hit phosphate-bearing rock, the best at 20.66 percent P2O5 over 19.4 metres. The company already holds an estimated 166.6 million tonnes of resource nearby. If developed, it would add a new production centre to a sector still short of its pre-2011 output, when Tunisia ranked among the world's top five phosphate producers.

Source: Réalités · Wednesday, 19 August 2026

Geopolitics

US Treasury vows to "collapse" Iran's economy as Trump presses China to join

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on 20 August that new sanctions will target Iran's oil smuggling networks, swap lines, exchange houses and ship registries, and called it the toughest economic campaign against any country. President Trump is pressing China, Iran's largest oil buyer, to join in ahead of a planned Xi Jinping visit to Washington on 24 September. Tehran dismissed the threat as economic terrorism. Further measures are expected on 25 August.

Source: Al Jazeera · Thursday, 20 August 2026

Yemen government and Houthis trade dozens of attacks as fighting escalates

Government forces carried out 81 attacks on Houthi positions in 24 hours, officials said on 20 August, while the Houthis claimed to have hit two targets inside Saudi Arabia. The escalation follows the Houthis' deadliest attack in years earlier this month, which killed 58 government troops in Marib, and their blockade of Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea. The UN says at least seven civilians have been killed in the past two weeks.

Source: Al Jazeera · Thursday, 20 August 2026

Europe

Seven countries tell Israel to drop West Bank settlement tenders

France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Canada, Norway and the Netherlands issued a joint statement on 20 August calling Israel's tenders for the E1 settlement project unacceptable. They said the project would cut the West Bank in two and warned companies bidding on the work that they risk legal and reputational liability. Israel's foreign minister rejected the statement outright.

Source: Euronews · Thursday, 20 August 2026

Romania destroys drone near its biggest Black Sea gas project

A Romanian F-16 destroyed a suspected Russian sea drone found near the Neptun Deep gas platform in the Black Sea on 20 August, 80 miles off Constanta. Bomb disposal experts later destroyed the wreckage; Ukraine confirmed the drone was not its own. President Nicusor Dan blamed Russia directly, though the defence minister stopped short of naming a source. Neptun Deep is due to make Romania the EU's largest gas producer when it starts up in 2027.

Source: Balkan Insight · Thursday, 20 August 2026