This file photo shows the Tunisian customs post at the Ras Jedir border crossing with Libya, south of the town of Ben Guerdane. Libyan authorities have been blocking for five days all commercial traffic in both directions at the main border crossing with Tunisia. — AFP
Tunis — Tunisian security forces used tear gas on Monday against hundreds of people in the southern town of Ben Guerdane protesting against the closure of the border with Libya, officials said.
“Around 1,000 people rallied outside local government offices and set tires ablaze in protest against a Libyan decision to close the Ras Jedir border crossing,” interior ministry spokesman Yasser Mesbah said.
Security forces fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, he added.
Ras Jedir is the main frontier between western Libya and southeastern Tunisia, a region whose economy is largely dependent on cross-border trade, both legal and illegal.
Tunisia’s southern provinces are among the poorest in the country.
Since April, Libyan border officials have stopped the flow of merchandise across the border, sparking anger among residents.
A Libyan official, Hafedh Moammar, said at the time that the border was closed amid alleged “harassment” of Libyan travelers and to stop the flow of smuggled fuel.
The governor of the Tunisian town of Medenine, Tahar Matmati, said Libya also wanted to impose a “unified tax” on all products crossing the frontier.
In March, Tunisia closed two border crossings with Libya for two weeks in response to a deadly jihadist attack on Ben Guerdane.
Tunisia has also built a 200-kilometer (125-mile) barrier stretching about half the length of its border with Libya in an attempt to prevent militants from infiltrating.
2,000 stopped from
going to conflict zones
Tunisian authorities prevented nearly 2,000 people from traveling abroad to join terror groups in the first three months of this year, interior ministry spokesman Yasser Mesbah said.
Since January, authorities have also dismantled 33 suspected “terrorist” cells and put on trial 1,400 people accused of belonging to a “terrorist organization,” Mesbah told private radio station Shems FM.
“In 2016, 1,877 Tunisians were prevented from leaving the country to travel to zones of tension,” Mesbah said, without identifying these destinations.
Since its 2011 revolution, Tunisia has faced a growing terror threat, with the Daesh group last year claiming a string of deadly attacks on holidaymakers and security forces that killed dozens.
Thousands of Tunisians have joined terror groups in conflict zones such as Iraq, Syria and Libya over the past few years.
Mesbah told AFP that most of the suspects prevented from traveling abroad to join terror groups this year were young people aged between 20 and 23 who have been placed under daily surveillance.
In the radio interview, Mesbah said that since January authorities have also carried out 1,733 raids on the homes of people suspected of sheltering “terrorist elements.”
During that same period, 140 suspects were arrested in connection with facilitating the travel of would-be terrorists abroad, he added.
Mesbah said the interior ministry had a string of measures ready to fight “the war against terrorism,” and is ready to ensure security at any event including the Jewish Lag BaOmer festival.
The annual gathering, during which pilgrims visit the tombs of revered rabbis and the famed El Ghriba synagogue on the holiday island of Djerba, will take place on May 25 and 26.
Israel on Monday warned of the danger of attacks targeting Jews and urged them to avoid travel to Tunisia.
A 2002 suicide bombing claimed by Al-Qaeda killed 21 people in Djerba, which is home to one of the last Jewish communities in the Arab world.
