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By Callum Paton.
Tripoli, 27 November 2013:
The Minister of Defence has flown to Italy to discuss collaboration on security. In the advance . . .[restrict]to his meetings in Rome, Abdullah Al-Thinni divulged plans to invest in a state-of-the-art border surveillance system with the help of Italian expertise.
Speaking just before his departure, Thinni said that the Ministry of Defence would be working with an Italian satellite company to set up a border monitoring system. The plans are the latest in attempts to combat the movement of extremist groups and smugglers across the open frontiers.
Thinni told Reuters that Libya had contracted Selex, part of the defence and aerospace group Finmeccanica, to devise a satellite-based surveillance system to cover the border from the Mediterranean coast to the sub-Saharan boundaries. Work would start in December.
“It will cover the whole border. From the end of 2014 the southern border will be sealed. The crossing points and weak spots will be closed with the help of satellites,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence announced, also this week, that Egypt and Libya would be creating a joint border force to stop the movement of extremists between the two countries. [/restrict]
