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By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 25 March 2013:
Answering questions yesterday, Sunday, at the GNC, Interior Minister Ashour Shuwail stated that the security situation . . .[restrict]was improving generally in the southern military zone extending from Ghadames to Kufra.
He hoped that the military zone would be extended to include Jaghboub which had become a smuggling zone he added.
Shuwail highlighted the air reconnaissance carried out in the south including the recent case of military aircraft firing on fuel smugglers.
He reported that the Egyptian border zone was now under control and that security personnel on the borders were slowly being replaced with official security personnel, as opposed to militiamen. He anticipated the opening of the new premises at the border.
On the issue of the recent mass alcohol poisoning, Shuwail reported that investigations were continuing. There were arrests made, but the suspected ring leader had escaped. He called for more coordination in preventing the smuggling of imported alcohol and noted that the issue of locally made alcohol was an issue that needed to be tackled by society as a whole.
The Chief of Staff, Yousef Mangoush, in his presentation, noted that the Border Security Unit was being re-organised. He felt it had been established in a wrong manner and that some units were ‘infiltrated’ and were being dealt with. The organisation was now being reformed with units having a mixed makeup from all over Libya.
Regarding the storming of the GNC meeting on 5 March while meeting at the Meteorological Institute in Tripoli’s Crimea suburb, he said the government was adamant that it had troops on standby near the site and that it was the GNC that insisted there be no intervention. [/restrict]
