In a smuggler paradise on Tunisia-Libya border, closure wrecks livelihoods
Al Jazeera
The people of Ben Guerdane survived off the Ras Jadir border crossing. Its closure hurt them, badly.
Nothing much is moving in Ben Guardane, Mohammed says.
The money-changing kiosks sit silent and the ad hoc markets by the banks of the saltwater inlets that line the route into the Tunisian border town are empty, they used to sell goods imported into Libya and snuck into Tunisia.
Nothing is moving, Mohammed repeats.
The nearby Tunisian border crossing with Libya remains closed, as it has been since late March violence on the Libyan side of the border. The official reason for closure is technical renovations.
Fighting had broken out between forces loyal to Libya’s Amazigh, who had largely controlled the crossing since the 2011 revolution, and forces from Tripoli’s Ministry of Interior, shuttering the crossing by March 20. It is not unusual, clashes between militias, and even civil war, have become almost normal for most Libyans since the revolution of 2011, and the border area is wild.
