(Ecofin Agency) - Chad will close its Kouri Bougoudi border with Libya, Mahamat Abali Salah (photo),  Chadian minister of territorial administration, local governance and public safety, announced last Sunday.

The official also indicated that security around the zone would also be strengthened.  Any unauthorized person found around that zone would thus be considered as a terrorist. During his announcement, the minister also reiterated the ban on unauthorized gold mining in the region.

“The border with Libya has become a spot where drug and weapon traffickers, terrorists and rebels reside,” Mahamat Abali Salah said on the national television.

This decision follows the recent incursion made by rebels of the Union des Forces pour la Résistance (UFR). Those rebels who came from Libya to carry out attacks against the current government were stopped thanks to raids conducted by the French army last February.  

Let’s note that along with his G5 Sahel peers, Chad’s president Idriss Deby previously invited the international community to help bring stability in Libya.  

It is also worth mentioning that in 2017, the government announced a border closure to protect Chad against “a serious terrorist infiltration threat.”

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou