Libya, Chad Agree to Secure Borders to Stop Human Trafficking

Najla al-Manqoush and her Chadian counterpart on the sidelines of the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Libya)
Najla al-Manqoush and her Chadian counterpart on the sidelines of the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Libya)
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Libya, Chad Agree to Secure Borders to Stop Human Trafficking

Najla al-Manqoush and her Chadian counterpart on the sidelines of the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Libya)
Najla al-Manqoush and her Chadian counterpart on the sidelines of the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Libya)

Libya’s Foreign Minister Najla al-Manqoush discussed with her Chadian counterpart Sherif Mohamed Zein possible ways to secure the borders between their countries to prevent security breaches and confront the human trafficking groups.

Manqoush and Zein held a meeting Saturday on the sidelines of the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit in Istanbul.

They agreed that the security of Libya is an integral part of Chad’s security, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Libya. They therefore, stressed the importance of working hand in hand to prevent any security violations, stop smuggling and confront human trafficking groups.

The Ministry added that the two ministers discussed the possibility of forming a joint force to protect the borders, in coordination with the relevant parties in Libya and Chad.

Manqoush stated that the security at the borders represents a priority to the Government of National Unity (GNU).

Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohammed al-Menfi had in mid-Nov in Paris discussed with President of the Chadian Transitional Military Council Gen. Mahamat Idriss Déby coordinating security cooperation efforts, monitoring the shared borders, and increasing coordination in combating terrorism and organized crime.

In another meeting with Vice President of the Libyan Presidential Council Moussa al-Koni, Déby suggested reactivating the Quartet Agreement comprising Libya, Sudan, Chad, and Niger through forming a joint military force on the borders with Libya.

The aim is to prevent the infiltration of insurgent groups, similar to what happened in April and that led to the killing of his father.

Insurgents, centered on the borders with Libya, killed President Idriss Déby days after he secured a sixth term in office.



Israeli Writer Grossman Denounces Gaza 'Genocide'

A girl runs from the scene after Israeli strikes on a school sheltering displaced people at the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, July 17, 2025, in this screen grab from a video obtained by Reuters. Handout via REUTERS.
A girl runs from the scene after Israeli strikes on a school sheltering displaced people at the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, July 17, 2025, in this screen grab from a video obtained by Reuters. Handout via REUTERS.
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Israeli Writer Grossman Denounces Gaza 'Genocide'

A girl runs from the scene after Israeli strikes on a school sheltering displaced people at the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, July 17, 2025, in this screen grab from a video obtained by Reuters. Handout via REUTERS.
A girl runs from the scene after Israeli strikes on a school sheltering displaced people at the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, July 17, 2025, in this screen grab from a video obtained by Reuters. Handout via REUTERS.

Award-winning Israeli author David Grossman called his country's campaign in Gaza "genocide" and said he was using the term with a "broken heart".

This came days after a major Israeli rights group also used the same term, amid growing global alarm over starvation in the besieged territory.

"For many years, I refused to use that term: 'genocide'," the prominent writer and peace activist told Italian daily La Repubblica in an interview published on Friday, AFP reported.

"But now, after the images I have seen and after talking to people who were there, I can't help using it."

Grossman told the paper he was using the word "with immense pain and with a broken heart."

"This word is an avalanche: once you say it, it just gets bigger, like an avalanche. And it adds even more destruction and suffering," he said.

Grossman's works, which have been translated into dozens of languages, have won many international prizes.

He also won Israel's top literary prize in 2018, the Israel Prize for Literature, for his work spanning more than three decades.

He said it was "devastating" to "put the words 'Israel' and 'famine' together" because of the Holocaust and our "supposed sensitivity to the suffering of humanity."

The celebrated author has long been a critic of the Israeli government.