The interior ministers from Libya and Tunisia said on Wednesday that they had agreed to partially reopen the border crossing at Ras Jdir on Thursday morning after more than three months of closure.
They added that the border crossing would be fully reopened on June 20.
Libyan interior minister in the Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli, Emad Trabulsi, said in a video statement with his Tunisian counterpart, Khaled Nouri, that the border crossing would be reopened “for the interest of the [two] countries without harming any party”.
It would be recalled that in mid-March, the Libyan interior ministry said it closed the border crossing due to armed clashes after the border was attacked by “outlaws”.
Ras Ijdir is the major border crossing between the two countries in Libya’s western region, where Libyans often goes to Tunisia for medical treatment and trucks with goods coming in the opposite direction.
Libya has had little peace since the 2011 uprising and is split between eastern and western factions, with rival administrations governing each area.
The GNU, which controls Tripoli and northwestern parts of Libya, is recognised internationally but not by the country’s eastern-based parliament.
“The reopening will be tomorrow for humanitarian cases, special cases that have permits from the Tunisian and Algerian interior ministry, and medical cases,” said Trabulsi.
Trabulsi added that he would meet Nouri on June 20 at the border crossing “to hold a meeting and fully reopen it to all travellers”.
On his part, Nouri said they had supported the crossing with everything necessary “in order to facilitate movement and not disrupt travellers from both sides”.
