By Houda Mzioudet.
Tunis, 23 June 2015:
Tunisia is to establish a consular office at the Ras Jedir border crossing with Libya, Tunisian . . .[restrict]Minister of Foreign Affairs Taieb Baccouche has said.
This announcement follows the closure of Tunisia’s consulate-general in Tripoli after the abduction of ten of its consular staff earlier this month by a Libya Dawn brigade, angry at the arrest by the Tunisians of its commander, Walid Ghleib. The staff were freed after he was released.
At a press conference yesterday, Baccouche said that his ministry was keen to keep its consulate in Tripoli open but that given the difficult circumstances in Libya and the inability of authorities in Tripoli to guarantee security for Tunisian consulate in Tripoli, “we deemed it wise to shut it”.
The new border consular staff will try to oversee the affairs of Tunisians in Libya, said to number as many as 150,000.
“There are Tunisians who continue to live in Libya because of strong family ties there,” Baccouche said. So the representation would be looking after their interests, he added. [/restrict]
