Tunisian Interior Minister Kamal Faki announced on Tuesday that his country plans to build surveillance towers along the Tunisian-Libyan border.
Faki told the Tunisian official news agency TAP on the sidelines of a joint working session he held with his Libyan counterpart, Major General Emad al-Tarablusi, at the Tunisian-Libyan border crossing of Ras Jdir, that Tunisian security and military forces of all formations are fully cooperating with Libyan security agencies to secure the borders of the two countries.
Tunisia had built a wall to protect its border with Libya in 2015. The wall consists of a series of trenches and earthen barriers, and is supported by an electronic and aerial surveillance system. The goal is to combat smuggling and the threat of terrorism.
The barrier stretches for 220 kilometers from the Ras Jdir border crossing, which is the largest land gateway between the two countries, to the (Dhiba/Ouazan) crossing in the Dhiba area of Tataouine province in southeastern Tunisia.
In addition, TAP reported that the joint working session discussed the mechanisms to be provided to address the difficulties facing the facilitation and acceleration of the movement of travelers and commercial exchanges between the two countries.
The session also addressed the “problem of similar names,” which was addressed by reducing the number of names on the watchlist at the Ras Jdir crossing from 2,000 to 350.
TAP quoted Faki as saying that efforts are underway to reduce the number of similar names, except for those who are proven to be involved in criminal offenses.
It is worth noting that the “similar names” file, which concerns the inclusion of the names of Libyan citizens by the Tunisian Ministry of Interior on the watchlists at Tunisian airports and border crossings, is one of the most prominent files pending in the relations between the two countries for years.
