From: Tsegai Emmanuel (emmanuelt40@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Jun 29 2010 - 09:16:59 EDT
Sudan closes borders with Libya amid growing diplomatic tensions
Tuesday 29 June 2010.
June 28, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese interior ministry made an abrupt
announcement on Monday that it will shut its borders with Libya as a measure
to preserve the lives and property of citizens from both countries.
Ibrahim Mahmood Hamid, the Sudanese Minister of Interior issued decree 203
containing the directive that will effective in the beginning of July.
A statement by the ministry said that the purpose of this decision is to
allow for the restructuring and deployment of police units from various
divisions including immigration, traffic, customs and border patrols.
Passage on a highway to the boundary "has become subjected to threats and
attacks from rebels and outlaws who commit robberies, extortion and imposing
unlawful fees and levies," the statement said.
It is not clear of today’s decision is linked to the growing tension with
Libya over refusing to expel the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement
(JEM) who arrived there last month after Chad barred him from entering the
country.
Chad has been a hub for JEM fighters and political officers through which
they entered to their bases inside Darfur. However, a recent thaw in
relations between Sudan and its Western neighbor created the unexpected
situation for JEM. Earlier this month the Libyan foreign minister Mousa
Kousa said that they are allowing Ibrahim to stay for humanitarian reasons.
Other Libyan officials have said that they maintain relations with all
warring parties in Darfur including the rebels who carried arms against the
government since 2003.
Sudan has dispatched several of its officials to Libya and president Omer
Hassan Al-Bashir has made several phone calls to his Libyan counterpart in a
bid to convince him to eject the JEM chief.
Yesterday, the Sudanese government said that Libya is in the process of
expelling Ibrahim. There was no confirmation from Tripoli.
A former Sudanese official familiar with the Libya-Sudan border situation
told Sudan Tribune that banditry in that area has been rampant since years
back.
"The borders have been largely closed ever since. We partially opened it,
even though the Libyans at the time were not very enthusiastic about
reopening," said the official who asked not to be named.
The official suggested that Khartoum is concerned that JEM rebel chief may
attempt to cross into Darfur to join his forces through the Libyan borders.
Libya’s border with Sudan passes through the troubled Darfur region, where
the United Nations estimates 300,000 people have died in a war that started
in 2003 when ethnic rebels revolted against the Arab-dominated government.
An unnamed source at the Libyan foreign ministry told official news agency
(JANA) that his country "fully understands" Sudan’s decision which he said
was made "for obvious reasons particularly that the Darfur crisis is still
raging".
"Our Sudanese brothers know very well that that Sudan would not be harmed
from the Great Jamahiriya because we are brothers and cooperation between us
is going well".
(ST)
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