By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 13 January 2015:
The Sudanese Foreign Minister has condemned Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni’s ban prohibiting Sudanese from boarding . . .[restrict]flights destined for Libya.
The ban, introduced on 7 January, has been carried out by state-run Afriqiyah Airways, which has stopped Sudanese travellingto Libya on all its flights.
The length and scope of the ban are unclear to some parties. Libyan Ambassador to Sudan Mohamed Al-Salwi told the Khartoum-based Political Examiner that he had not been informed about the ban .
The Libyan Charge d’Affaires in Khartoum, Mohamed Sola, took a different view: “Thinni simply issued a 24-hour air traffic embargo on Libya for all flights for security reasons,” he claimed.
In fact, Thinni issued the ban on Sudanese, Syrians and Palestinians from entering the country on 6 January because of supposed intelligence gathered indicating that those countries were involved in “undermining” Libya’s security and sovereignty, a government spokesperson told Reuters.
The ban, however, is limited because Thinni’s government maintains authority only over the Tobruk and Labraq airports and the land crossing with Egypt. The “National Salvation Government”, led by Omar Al-Hassi, controls Libya’s main crossing to Tunisia, as well as the Misrata and Mitiga airports.
The Sudanese government has insisted that it is neutral in the current conflict and has vehemently denied accusations that it has contributed to terrorist activity inside Libya’s borders. This, however, is seen as itself a partisan position. Like most of the international community, almost all other Arab governments will have nothing to do with Hassi, saying that the Thinni administration is the only legitimate government in the country.
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