Tunisian-Libyan border crossing reopens

TUNIS - Ras El Jedir, Tunisia's main border crossing with Libya, reopened on Thursday following a three week closure, after Libyan authorities set up security and customs structures in charge of the crossing, the official press agency TAP reported.

A Libyan interior official, Amor Khadhri, gave the opening signal as hundreds of cars and trucks crossed the border both ways, TAP said.

The manning of the border crossing by professional Libyan border guards and customs officers was one of the conditions set up by Tunisian authorities for its reopening.

A Libyan government source noted that the event "will mark a new turn in the brotherly relations between both countries," TAP said.

Tunisian authorities closed the border post three weeks ago following repeated incursions by Libyan militants into the Tunisian territory.