Libya gives clearance to foreign security firms for protection of its border with Algeria

A European report has disclosed that the Libyan government has given the green light to private foreign security companies with the aim of ensuring the protection of Libya’s borders notably with Algeria, Tunisia, Chad and Niger.

The Libyan authorities’ decision comes at a time of an awesome escalation of violence triggered off by several uncontrolled heavily-armed militia groups in several towns and cities of the country notably in Benghazi, Syrte and Tripoli.

The Libyan government has literally lost control over some parts of the territory and has up to now been unable to impose law and order through the intervention of the regular forces whose task should be to neutralize and disarm the runaway hefty militia groups but so far to no avail.

An Algerian security source told Echorouk that Algeria was against the involvement of foreign private firms in the monitoring and the protection of Libya’s border with Algeria, saying that such a move was counterproductive and was tantamount to a breach of sovereignty over its national territory.

This hovering contingency could entail serious security lapses with possible terrorists’ infiltrations into the common borders, with a case in point being last January’s deadly attack carried out by infiltrated terrorists against the In Amenas gas plant in southern Algeria, the same source argued.

As a result, the Algerian authorities have barred foreign oil and gas firms operating in the south of the country from employing private armed security agents to ensure the protection of the hydrocarbons facilities there, stressing that firearms should be worn exclusively by the Algerian military and security forces as a matter of national sovereignty.