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Libya to close borders ahead of uprising anniversary

Arab World Materials 12 February 2013 03:46 (UTC +04:00)
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan late Monday declared that borders with Tunis and Egypt will be closed for five days as a security measure ahead of the country's commemoration of the second anniversry of the beginning of the uprising that ousted Libyan leader Moammer Gaddafi.
Libya to close borders ahead of uprising anniversary

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan late Monday declared that borders with Tunis and Egypt will be closed for five days as a security measure ahead of the country's commemoration of the second anniversry of the beginning of the uprising that ousted Libyan leader Moammer Gaddafi, DPA reported.

Zeidan said that as of midnight on February 14th until the 18th, "no one will be allowed to cross the Libyan borders between Egypt or Tunis as a security measure."

Libyans are due to celebrate on February 17, two years since the armed uprising began. Gaddafi was killed in October 2011, ending his 40-year grip on power.

The security measures came after groups opposing the current government urged Libyans to demonstrate peacefully on Friday to protest the cabinet's inability to impose security across the country.

The call for demonstrations has prompted many international embassies and companies in Libya to step up their security measures.

In January, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States issued warnings against travelling to Libya, particularly the eastern city of Benghazi, where the US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other American officials were killed in September 2012.

The countries cited "high threat from terrorism" and a possibility of retaliatory attacks targeting Western interests in the region after the French military intervention in Mali.

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