By Tarek Amara

GABES, Tunisia (Reuters) -Beneath a smog-choked sky, the once-glistening waters of Gabes in southern Tunisia run dark with rust-coloured streaks. Trees are dying, fish vanishing and a suffocating stench infuses the air.

Known a generation ago as an ecological jewel of green oases, today the town is a toxic wasteland rife with cancer, respiratory illness and bone disease.

The culprit – residents, environmentalists and officials say – is a phosphates processing plant run by the state-owned Tunisian Chemical Group, or CGT, whose smokestacks loom over rubbish-strewn beaches.

This month, anger at the plant exploded into one of President Kais Saied’s biggest challenges since he took power in 2019. Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters who stormed the complex, and thousa

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