Sudan, Libya deploy border troops

Libya and Sudan are set to deploy joint troops to monitor border areas between the two countries, following an earlier military agreement, Sudanese Ambassador to Libya, Majid Swar, said on Thursday. "The recently signed military cooperation agreement between the two countries includes the deployment of joint troops to monitor and protect border areas," the state-run SUNA news agency quoted Swar as saying. "These troops will be deployed soon," he added. Final preparations are underway, Swar added, in a move that is expected to see a return of control to Libya’s borders with its African neighbours. Armed gangs have gained advantage in the region since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, smuggling large amounts of arms across the Sahel region into Sudan, Niger, Chad, Algeria and Tunisia. Libya previously closed southern border crossings amid reports of mass infiltrations and smuggling operations. Sudan’s government in particular had claimed rebel Darfurian groups had exploited the absence of security in the region to smuggle weapons into Sudan.