Tripoli, 28 April:
The spokesperson of the Deputy Minister of Defence and the ministry’s head of the International Cooperation Department, General Hamad Muftah Al-Shilwee, . . .[restrict]has said that because of the massive length of Libya’s borders, it will take a great deal of effort and time to devise systems to secure them.
In a press conference held today, Saturday, in Tripoli, he disclosed that two plans were being put into operation. The first, he said, was a long term plan which needed very long term planning.
The second plan, he explained, was a short term measure, the execution of which had commenced. The aims is to control the borders within the available capabilities.
Shilwee added that the border guards, the oil and gas guards and the Strategic and Vital targets guards are presently in charge of 1.8 million square kilometres of territory .
About 4,500 square kilometers of this adjoin land borders, he said, and about 2,000 kilometers of it is coastal borders. He also revealed that the border guards now totaled about 8,000 former soldiers in addition to about another 8,000 new soldiers from the new post-17 FebruaryRevolution National Army.
The Ministry of Interior, he revealed, had requested a budget of about LD 1.5 billion, but that in fact it has received only an emergency budget of about LD 150 million. [/restrict]
