Tunisia's Saied blames 'premeditated acts' for water, power cuts

Tunisian President Kais Saied, who has ruled with near-total power since 2021, said on Thursday that premeditated acts were behind prolonged water and electricity cuts as the country swelters in summer heat.

Temperatures have neared 50 degrees Celsius in recent weeks, driving up demand for electricity and water -- both of which proved scarce throughout the summer.

For Saied the outages, which can last more than 10 hours in some areas including in the capital, were "not simply temporary or isolated cases" and "did not result from ordinary breakdowns".

Instead, the president said they stemmed from "premeditated acts aimed at inflaming the situation by all means and spreading lies and rumours to sow confusion".

Saied did not say who may be behind such acts, which he said were "mistreating citizens even through the most basic services".

The statement came after a cabinet meeting between Saied and Prime Minister Sarra Zaafrani, along with other ministers and the heads of the state-run electricity and water companies, STEG and SONEDE.

STEG has been publishing schedules for power cuts, which it says are meant as load shedding in order to ease pressure on its network.

The notices list affected towns and neighbourhoods including in the greater Tunis area, which is home to nearly 3 million people.

Water cuts have also become frequent as much of Tunisia's water supply depends on electric pumps, which are disrupted during the power outages.

The water cuts are compounded by a shortage of bottled water, also linked to power outages.

Supermarkets have imposed quotas on purchases per person, while many small shops quickly run out, even as Tunisians grapple with a prolonged heatwave.

For Saied, these were "criminal plans" and "attempts at provocation".

"The enemies of the homeland and those who support them are now exposed before the Tunisian people," Saied added, again without identifying those behind the outages.

Tunisia emerged as the only democracy of the Arab Spring demonstrations of 2011, but since Saied staged a sweeping power grab in 2021, rights groups have criticised a major rollback on freedoms.

Dozens of the president's critics have been prosecuted or jailed, including on terrorism-related charges and under a law Saied enacted in 2022 to prohibit "spreading false news".