Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the General Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), welcomed on Monday the decision of Tunisia’s President Kais Saied to dismiss the government and freeze parliament.
Libya’s Presidential Council has directed the government to “harness all capabilities” to support Tunisia after the country was hit by a new wave of Coronavirus outbreak.
Tunisia recorded 194 new deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, which is the highest death toll per day that the country ever recorded since the beginning of the pandemic in March of last year.
An emergency committee was formed to handle the evacuation of Libyan citizens currently stuck in a Tunisian airport, announced the Libyan Consul in Tunisia Fadel Al-Qario on Saturday.
The Interim National Unity Government in Libya announced that it closed its land and sea borders with Tunisia, after the epidemiological situation worsened in the neighboring country. This coincides with the Tunisian government’s announcement of the collapse of the country’s health system and its inability to control the epidemic.
Forty three migrants have drowned after their boat sank off Tunisia, the Tunisian Red Crescent said on Saturday. The migrants had set off from the Libyan port of Zuwara and were attempting to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
The Libyan Interior Ministry has closed the country’s the second largest crossing border with Tunisia, known as Wazen Al-Dhiba, due to a recent spike of COVID-19 cases in the neighboring country, sources told Libya Update on Thursday.