Algeria to Reopen Border Crossing with Libya

Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum. EPA
Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum. EPA
TT

Algeria to Reopen Border Crossing with Libya

Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum. EPA
Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum. EPA

Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum has said his country was finalizing logistical and technical preparations for the reopening of the Debdeb-Ghadames border crossing with Libya.

Boukadoum and Libyan Minister of Economy and Trade Mohamed Al-Hawij held on Saturday a press conference on the sidelines of the Algerian-Libyan Economic Forum.

The two countries are also finalizing the reopening of the maritime link between Algiers and Tripoli for the transportation of goods, Boukadoum said.

He renewed "Algeria's full support to the efforts of the Libyan authorities, represented by the Presidential Council and the Government of National Unity in order to restore political and security stability in Libya, achieve national reconciliation among all the Libyan people, and unify and strengthen state institutions."

He called for “holding free and fair general elections that preserve the Libyan territory’s integrity and unity, and put Libya back on the track of reconstruction, prosperity, and growth.”

"Algeria has hosted all the Libyan warring parties, from across the political spectrum, to bridge differences and find consensual solutions that the Libyans themselves must implement to protect their country from expansionism and foreign interference," he added.

Boukadoum reiterated that Algeria has taken measures to provide a legal and institutional framework for all businesspersons from both countries to implement projects for the benefit of the Libyan and Algerian people.



Iraq’s FM: Israeli-Russian Hostage Tsurkov is Alive

Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov. AFP
Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov. AFP
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Iraq’s FM: Israeli-Russian Hostage Tsurkov is Alive

Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov. AFP
Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov. AFP

Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who is being held hostage by an Iraqi militia, is alive and the Iraqi prime minister is working on her release, Iraqi foreign minister Fouad Hussein told Axios reporter Barak Ravid on Thursday.

Tsurkov, a 38-year-old student at Princeton University, disappeared in Baghdad in March 2023 while doing research for her doctorate. She had entered the country on her Russian passport.

The only sign she was alive has been a video broadcast in November 2023 on an Iraqi television station and circulated on pro-Iranian social media purporting to show her.

No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. But Israel believes she is being held by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia.