Libya to close borders ahead of anniversary
2013-02-12 12:36
Cairo - Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan late on Monday
declared that borders with Tunis and Egypt will be closed for five days as a
security measure ahead of the country's commemoration of the second anniversry
of the beginning of the uprising that ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Zeidan said that as of midnight on February 14th until the
18th, "no one will be allowed to cross the Libyan borders between Egypt or
Tunis as a security measure".
Libyans are due to celebrate on 17 February, two years since
the armed uprising began. Gaddafi was killed in October 2011, ending his
40-year grip on power.
The security measures came after groups opposing the current
government urged Libyans to demonstrate peacefully on Friday to protest the
cabinet's inability to impose security across the country.
The call for demonstrations has prompted many international
embassies and companies in Libya to step up their security measures.
In January, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and the United
States issued warnings against travelling to Libya, particularly the eastern
city of Benghazi, where the US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and
three other American officials were killed in September 2012.
The countries cited "high threat from terrorism"
and a possibility of retaliatory attacks targeting Western interests in the
region after the French military intervention in Mali.
- SAPA
