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By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 22 November 2015:
Algeria has again closed its border crossings with both Libya and Mali and stepped up . . .[restrict]border security according to media reports in Algiers. It follows Friday’s attack on a hotel in the Malian capital Bamako in which 19 people died.
Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by the terrorist group Al-Murabitoun which was formed two years ago by Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar and which operates in Mali, Niger, Algeria and Libya.
There are two main Algeria-Libya crossings, at Ghadames and Tin El Koum near Ghat. The Algerians reopened them during the summer having closed them closed in May 2014 because of security concerns.
The border is otherwise completely open, however, and Al-Murabitoun invariably use desert tracks to move around. To deal with this and prevent other terrorist attacks on oil installations and other facilities in the south of the county, the Algerians have put the security on maximum alert and are said to be mobilising “tens of thousands” of military personnel in the vast area. According to the Algerian daily El Khabar, it already deploys 50,000 troops in areas adjacent to Libya, Niger and Mali.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar has been active in Libya and has allies in the country, both in the east and the west. The attack on the In Amenas oil facility in January 2013 which he masterminded is widely beleived to have been carried out from Libyan territory. He was reported killed in a US airstrike on a meeting of militants in Ajdabiya in June. This was subsequently denied although he has not been seen since.
Meanwhile it has been announced that Libya’s neighbouring states as well as Libya itself will meet in Algiers on 1 December to discuss the latest developments in efforts to reach a political settlement of the Libyan crisis.
It will be the seventh meeting of Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger and Libya. The new UK Special Envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, will also take part as will representatives of the African Union and the European Union, according to Algeria’s Minister for Maghreb, Arab and African Affairs, Abdelkader Messahel.
He said that Algeria was “convinced that there can be no alternative other than a political solution and dialogue between the different Libyan parties”.
A national government representing all Libyans would “allow the State to combat the scourge of terrorism, which is threatening the security and stability of Libya and its neighbouring countries,” he stated. [/restrict]
