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By Libya Herald staff.
Cairo, 18 March 2015:
Libyan Interior Minister Colonel Ahmed Barka has welcomed the arrival of 2,000 Libyan trainees at . . .[restrict]the Egyptian Police Academy in Cairo.
Through the training agreement, Libya aims to benefit from Egyptian anti-terrorism expertise, as much of the instruction will focus on the prevention terrorist activity.
Barka stressed that Egypt and Libya were committed to working together to stamp out the threat of terrorism in the region.
The Interior Minister went on to point out that Libya’s lack of trained police was not the only reason for the government’s impotence in securing the countries cities and towns.
“The UN arms embargo imposed on Libya after the fall of Qaddafi has not only affected the army, but also the police,” Barka said. “We need sophisticated equipment for policing the country.”
Barka went on to say that after terrorist groups had raided Qaddafi’s weapons stockpiles in 2011, the government had been powerless to fight them.
“Here we are today, left to fight the terrorists on our own without adequate resources,” he said.
Since the fall of Qaddafi, segments of Libya’s police force have been trained in the UK, Jordan and Turkey with varying results. Trainees burned bridges in Jordan when a group of them rioted and set fires at the Jordanian Public Security Directorate over a delay in their return to Libya after the training, because of the failure of Libyan planes to arrive at the appointed date to take the trainees home.
Thousands of members of the existing police force have also been known to shirk their duties while continuing to collect salaries, provoking former Interior Minister Saleh Mazegh in late June of last year to order them back to work or be sacked. [/restrict]
