Libya, Tunisia reopen border

The main border crossing between Tunisia and Libya is again bustling with traffic after almost three weeks of closure.

By Monia Ghanmi for Magharebia in Tunis – 19/12/11

The Ras Jedir border crossing between Tunisia and Libya fully reopened on Monday (December 19th). The Libyan side restored the traffic four days after Tunisia re-opened the border.

"The security situation at the Ras Jedir crossing is now excellent, as the various forms of militancy were eliminated from the crossing," the Libyan News Agency quoted Libyan Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelali as saying last Thursday.

He said that Libya was monitoring the situation there around the clock, pointing out that his ministry had put in place two checkpoints along specific distances before reaching the crossing.

Tunisian authorities closed the border on November 30th after a Libyan gunman threatened Tunisian border guards. Tunisia complained about a rise in armed attacks from the Libyan side of the border and violations of its sovereignty.

In response to Tunisia's request to place the border crossing under the responsibility of regular troops, the Libyan interior ministry forces on December 5th assumed border control from police, immigration and customs. The crossing was previously in the hands of former rebel fighters.

Travelers using the shared border welcomed the reopening of the border and restoration of rule of law and security between the two states.

"This is what Libya needs today—law and order and a sense of security," Mabrouk Musrati, a Libyan taxi driver on the Tunis – Tripoli line, told Magharebia. "We are content that arms ended the uprising. Today every Libyan must take his natural place and assume his real role. We must look ahead to the future of the country."

Abderrazak Dhiffallah said, "The new Libyan government did well. It began to develop action plans on its border crossings, and this is what we want from the brothers in Libya: army deployment and putting an end to loose security until movement between the two countries returns to normal, because our future is a single future, and our need for each other is increasing day by day."

Five Tunisian parties along with Libya's February17th Forces coalition on Thursday launched a joint call for creating "real integration" between Tunisia and Libya and establishing "a real brotherly relationship between the two people in the spirit of love and common interest".

The parties included the National Coalition for Peace and Development, the Reform and Development Party, the Movement of Popular Unity, the Secretariat Party and the Tunisia Dignity Party. They made their appeal from the Ras Jedir border.

Mohamed Koumani, Secretary-General of the Reform and Development Party, said that their action aimed to formally support efforts to restore relations between Tunisia and Libya and to accelerate the pace of restoring normal operations at the Ras Jedir crossing after the rising security tensions.

The appeal comes in the context of efforts to bring the views of the Tunisian and Libyan sides closer, especially in this period of a summer cloud in bilateral relations due to isolated actions causing strife between the two peoples, said Abdelhamid Abou Dabra, Director of Administrative Affairs of the Libyan February 17th Forces coalition.

Tunisia remains the sole lifeline of Libya, and Libya remains an important lifeline of Tunisia on both social and economic levels, he added.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/12/19/feature-01.