| How long do you think it will be until the entire thing falls apart again, dear Reader? One week, perhaps, or as much as three months? |
[An Nahar] The Italian government said Sunday that dozens of rival tribes in southern Libya had agreed to cooperate on securing the country's borders in an effort to curb the influx of Italia's interior ministry said the 60 tribal leaders -- notably the Tuareg of the southwest, the Toubou of the southeast, and the Arab tribe of Awlad Suleiman -- had reached the 12-point deal after 72 hours of secret talks in Rome.
A representative from Libya's U.N.-backed Government of National Accord, which is based in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
and controls western Libya, was also present.
"A Libyan border patrol unit will be operational to monitor Libya's southern border of 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles)," Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti told Italia's La Stampa newspaper, one of several Italian media outlets reporting on the deal Sunday.
"Securing Libya's southern border means securing Europe's southern border," Minniti said.
Southern Libya is criss-crossed by smuggling routes for people, drugs and weapons. Since the 2011 uprising that ousted Moamer Qadaffy, a mosaic of tribal and ethnic forces is fighting for control of illicit trade and oil fields in the region.
Tuaregs control the border with southern Algeria, while further east, the Toubou operate along the borders with Chad and Sudan.
Arab tribes in the region have supported the authorities in western Libya, but they also maintain ties with a rival administration that holds sway in the east -- and regularly clash with the Toubou.
Fayez al-Sarraj, chief of the fragile GNA, has struggled to impose the government's authority, despite its backing by many political and military leaders.
The accord, whose details have not yet been released, is the latest in a series of deals European countries have sought to reduce migration from Libya, which has increased sharply in recent months.
The deal aims to combat "an economy based on illicit drugs, which causes hundreds of deaths in the Mediterranean, thousands of desperate people looking for a better life, a populist push (in Europe) and a jihadist threat in the desert," according to the text of the agreement, quoted in the Corriere della Sera newspaper.