By Houda Mzioudet.
Tripoli 18 May 2014:
Tunisia’s National Council for Security, in an emergency meeting held . . .[restrict]in Tunis following the clashes that took place in Benghazi on Friday, has decided to take a series of “proactive measures” to boost security in anticipation of possible consequences from the situation in Libya.
Speaking to the press afterwards, Tunisian Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou said that the Tunisian authorities would “be taking proactive measures” to deal with any developments resulting form the security situation in Libya but refused to specify what these were.
However, during the meeting which lasted for two hours, he said that that Tunisia would be sending 5,000 troops to strengthen military units already stationed near the Libyan border.
Ben Jeddou also expressed concern at the possibility of Libya event impacting in Libyans in Tunisia. Citing a figure way in excess of anything anyone has said before, he claimed that there “about 1.9 million Libyan citizens in Tunisia”.
The meeting was chaired by Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki and as well as Ben Jeddou included Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa, President of the Constituent Assembly Mustapha Ben Jaafar, Deputy Minister of Interior Ghazi Jeribi, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mongi Hamidi, as well as a number of senior officers of the Tunisian army and security leaders. [/restrict]
