By Hadi Fornaji.
Tunis, 22 December 2017:
Tobruk port has reopened to international shipping. It was closed two months ago on the orders of Field Marshal Khalifa Hafter, and foreign vessels ordered to use Benghazi instead. The decision to close was ostensibly made because of ineffective security controls at the port, corruption and smuggling.
The decision to reopen has also come from Hafter, according to the port’s security director, Colonel Abdussalam Younis. The closure, however, caused considerable anger in the town. Nor did it have any effect on reducing corruption.
Benghazi port, formally reopened at the beginning of October, was at the centre of a $8-million Letter of Credit scam last month when 40 containers were discovered containing not the goods they were supposed to have, but other cheaper ones. The fraud is now being investigated.
Since the reopening of Benghazi port, container unloading and storage security is now reported to be under the control of the Libyan National Army’s Military Authority for Investment and Public Works.
