By Houda Mzioudet.
Tripoli, 1 July 2013:
The Libyan-Tunisian border crossing at Ras Jedir has been the scene of severe congestion since the . . .[restrict]early hours of Monday.
“This is quite normal at this time of the year, with the holy month of Ramadan,” a Ras Jedir high security committee officer, Walid Ftiss, told the Libya Herald. “Many Libyans go to Tunisia for medical treatment or even just for a change from the stress of life in Libya,” he said.
Traffic has, at times, almost ground to a standstill, with long tailbacks of Libyan cars. The congestion is at its worst heading into Tunisia, and Libyans stuck in queues have been complaining that Tunisian customs make crossing the border time-consuming.
Today the border was closed for an hour after customs officials found quantities of hashish in a Libyan vehicle.
Ftiss said that the huge queues are caused by up to 15,000 cars a day heading into Tunisia. Border control simply does not have the capacity to deal with such large number of travellers, he added, with the result of severe congestion.
For travellers entering Libya, the crossing is apparently both easier and swifter. [/restrict]
