The crisis of securing the southern borders of Libya

Control of the southwestern borders of Libya constitutes a major challenge for the Libyans. Securing it is one of the biggest challenges facing Libya. This allowed the arms, human and drug markets to flourish. In addition to the daily illegal trade operations, various fuels and merchandise, Because of the huge gap in prices between Libya and the southern neighboring countries, This had dire consequences for the region as a whole.

In this context, Libya faces a set of complexities in this file, the most prominent of which are the following:

First: There are two thorny issues related to the legacy of the former regime. from a southern region neglected economically and socially, Its inhabitants depend to a large extent on cross-border trade for their livelihood. and the weakness of a dilapidated security sector, lacks clear central planning, training and coordination, equipment, patriotism and morale.

Second: The demographics in southern Libya are made up of Arabs, Tuareg and Tabu on the one hand, And the housing structure south of the Sahara on the other hand, One source of border insecurity, Some of these transnational communities have established networks with extensions in neighboring countries. that facilitate illegal trade.

Third: The armed formations operating in the southern border areas. Tribal relations and special interests are stronger than their trust in the Libyan state. or her allegiance, Despite its organizational affiliation to an institution that is supposed to be military or security.

Fourth: The establishment of some state institutions and battalions operating in its name. which lack coordination among themselves, By finding settlements of border crises marred by confusion in an attempt to control the municipalities, and the southern Libyan border posts, The relationship between them was often competitive. Not cooperative.

In this paper, we will discuss the dimensions of this crisis. that we need to understand, decomposing it into its elements, and its vocabulary so that we can know, determine the nature of this void, And the crisis that the Libyan state suffers from historically in protecting its borders, especially the southern ones, Which extends to more than 1774 km with the countries of Niger, and chad, Sudan, With an attempt to set some determinants, policies and recommendations on which the decision-maker can rely in activating protection mechanisms and methods.

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An analytical paper on the crisis of securing the borders of the Libyan state, May 5, 2023

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