Libya, Sudan, Chad and Niger signed on Friday a judicial cooperation agreement to secure their borders. They also agreed to set up an operations center in the Chadian capital N'Djamena to combat “terrorist groups”, smuggling and human trafficking.
The deal was signed during the third ministerial committee meeting in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Thursday that saw the participation of the defense, foreign and interior ministers and security agencies of the concerned countries.
Libyan FM Mohammed al-Taher Siyala said the four countries “agreed that N'Djamena would host the operations center due to its geographic location.”
An agreement was also reached to form a coordination committee to follow up on the establishment of the center within two months. Sudan will chair the committee for the upcoming six months.
The fourth ministerial committee meeting will be held in Niami, the capital of Niger, in mid-November.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed stressed during the Khartoum meeting the importance of activating the joint operations center and exchanging information between the four countries.
He hailed the success of the joint Sudanese-Chadian forces in securing the borders between the two neighbors, underlining the common historic and cultural factors that bind them to work together in all fields, especially the security, social and economic sectors.
Niger’s Defense Minister Kalla Mountari stressed the need to speed up the formation of the coordination committee and activate its role in securing the borders.
He acknowledged that the countries in the region are facing challenges that demand united efforts to combat them, underlining the importance of exchanging information on the borders to achieve economic and social development to dry up terror financing.
Chad’s Foreign Minister Al-Sharif Mohammed Zein demanded that standards and procedures be put in place to overcome security challenges in southern Libya.
