(AFP File Photo)
A treaty between Egypt and Libya on facilitating border crossing procedures is implemented starting Monday, state agency MENA reported.
100 Libyan citizens are expected to cross into Egypt, after having registered their names with the designated Egyptian authorities, while 100 Egyptian citizens will cross into Libya from Matruh, according to a press release Sunday night.
The final treaty stipulates that Libyans aged 13 and younger, and those who are 59 years old and older, are allowed to enter into Egyptian territory. In addition, women of all ages are allowed entry without visa, along with Libyans who have mothers/wives holding the Egyptian citizenship, students carrying out their studies in Egypt, and those holding a residence permit.
Truck carrying vegetables will be allowed to reach the city of Tobruk, while other trucks carrying food supplies and commodities will be allowed enter into the district of Msaed. A control laboratory for the food supplies will be installed to monitor the expiration dates of supplies moving in and out of Libya.
Egyptian and Libyan officials held talks in Matruh in May, and agreed to open the borders to Libyans coming into Egypt. The meeting was attended by the governor of Matruh, Major General Alaa Abo Zeid, the Customs Director, Ali Hashim, and Libyan Colonel Abdel Salam Lameen.
Since former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed in 2011 following an uprising aided by an international intervention force, Libya has remained unstable.
The situation escalated in summer 2014, when General Khalifa Haftar opened an offensive against Islamist militias, which resulted in even more militant and tribal violence. This led to rift in the country with two rival governments claiming legitimacy in Libya; one Islamist in Tripoli; another, internationally-recognised in Tobruk.
As a result of the ongoing turmoil, dozens of Egyptians lost their lives and an estimate of more than 45,000 Egyptians migrated from Libya, seeking security in Egypt.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), a steady stream of people has been fleeing from Libya into Egypt. Along with thousands of Egyptian workers, there were also Africans and a large number of migrant workers from Asia, such as Bangladesh.
