British Foreign Office in Libya-Tunisia border warning

UK foreign office minister Alistair Burt has condemned Libya's border attacks

The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) has advised Britons in Tunisia to stay away from the Libyan border, because of attacks on rebels by Colonel Mu'ammar Qadhafi's forces.

Britons are being advised to stay at least 40km (25miles) away from the border, according to the FCO website.

Mortars and shells from Libya have landed in Tunisia at the Dehiba border crossing, and the BBC reports that there has been fighting on Tunisian soil.

On Saturday 7th May, pro-government forces shelled rebel positions in the border town of Gzaya and some shells hit Tunisian territory, although no one was hurt.

Both sides have been fighting in the area for over a week, trying to gain control of the border, which would provide important supply lines.

Foreign office minister Alistair Burt said the actions of Qadhafi loyalists showed “wanton disregard" for international law.

"Firing into a neighbouring country is illegal, wholly wrong and must cease immediately. It is another example of the regime's utter lack of legitimacy,” he said.

Burt also praised the Tunisian government's 'moderate' response to the border violations, and its efforts to manage the effects of the Libyan conflict.

Tunisia has recently stepped up its border controls with Libya, searching for arms and drugs, the Middle East Online reported on 9th May.

A lack of customers in war-torn Libya has led drug traffickers to move their business into Tunisia.

Tunisian custom officials have been searching for drugs and small arms, both on persons and in commercial vehicles.

Over 200,000 people have crossed into Tunisia from Libya since January.

 

Sources: BBC News, FCO website, Middle East Online

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

Rebels take Libya-Tunisia border crossing

Qadhafi's troops have abandoned the Dhuheiba border crossing, Source: TAP

Libyan rebels have captured a post on the Tunisian border from pro-Qadhafi forces after three days of intense fighting.

Reports coming out of Tunisia have said that rebels captured the Dhuheiba border crossing, near the town of Wazin, after up to 100 loyalist soldiers fled to Tunisia on Thursday 20th April.

Rebel leader Shaban Abu Sitta said the border post was taken after three days of fighting outside the desert town of Nalut, which is about 140 miles south-west of Tripoli.

He said rebels had seized cars and weapons from the government troops and destroyed 30 trucks.

Nalut was in the hands of anti-government forces last month, but Libyan troops moved in and took it over.

The reports from Dhuheiba have not been independently verified as the government has severely restricted the movement of journalists in western Libya.

An unnamed witness on the Tunisian side of the border, however, told Reuters that government soldiers had surrendered. "We see rebels who control the border crossing," he told Reuters by phone.

TAP, the Tunisian official news agency, reported that 13 Libyan officers, including one major colonel and two commanders, handed themselves over to the Tunisian military at the border, apparently seeking refuge. They have been detained by Tunisian military authorities.

The taking of the Dhuheiba border crossing marks a rare advance for the rebels in the west of the country.

Sources: BBC News, The Independent, TAP, Reuters, MSNBC

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.