Libya's Interior Minister-designate, Imad Trabelsi, has announced the installation of security cameras along the border between Libya and Tunisia. The electronic surveillance system will operate day and night.
"For the first time, the Libyan border with Tunisia will be provided with surveillance cameras day and night and security forces will be deployed along the border," Libyan Interior Minister-designate Imad Trabelsi said.
At a press conference on September 6, he added that "some countries and international organizations are trying to settle migrants in Libya" and that "some hosting centres controlled by armed groups with the objective of trafficking human beings and sending them to sea have been closed."
Trabelsi was speaking during a visit to the headquarters of the Authority for the Fight against Illegal Immigration "to get to know the latest measures for the repatriation of illegal immigrants on a voluntary basis."
'Voluntary return of 250 people'
A reported 250 migrants from Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria and Bangladesh would be taken back to their country of origin on a voluntary basis, Trabelsi also said.
"Libya is a country of transit, not of destination of migrants, and we are not satisfied with the impact this issue is having on our country, as well as on countries of destination," he told the press conference.
We are asking everybody not to choose the path of death.
"Libya has paid a hefty price due to the issue of migrant hosting, and we are asking everybody not to choose the path of death and to remain in their countries. The matter of immigration requires intensified efforts between State institutions and citizens due to its impact on security, health, the economy and society," Trabelsi added.
Repatriation of 270 migrants
The minister said that authorities on September 6 started repatriating 270 migrants intercepted in Libya who intended to travel to Europe. He explained that a number of flights would take these migrants back from Tripoli to their countries of origin: Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria and Bangladesh.
Last February, Trabelsi and his delegation were received in Rome by his Italian counterpart, Matteo Piantedosi. According to the Italian interior minister, the event represented the first operational meeting following the relaunch of a strategic dialogue between Italy and Libya on migration and security.