Day After Reopening, Libyan Coastal Road Closes

CAIRO - Arab media are reporting that Libya's coastal highway is closed again, following declarations by the national unity government that the road was now open.

The Tripoli-based government has been pushing hard to reopen the road, arguing that it is a sign of the country’s reunification. Military and political leaders in eastern Libya argue that reopening the road may allow terrorists to flow into their sector. Arab media reported the highway was closed again as of Monday afternoon, a day after National Unity Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbaibeh declared the road had officially been reopened. A video from the Reuters news agency showed Prime Minister Dbaibeh in a tractor Sunday, removing earth from the coastal highway to reopen the road. The road connects the western city of Misrata and Sirte, the hometown of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Gen. Ahmed Almasmari, the spokesman for eastern military commander Gen. Khalifa Haftar, said the prime minister and militia forces around Tripoli had overstepped their legal authority, circumventing a 10-person joint military committee authorized to make that decision. The U.N.-appointed committee, known as 5+5, includes an equal number of military officers from both sides.