Several dozen trucks of food were donated by Libya on Tuesday to neighboring Tunisia, according to the Libyan embassy, months into an economic crisis that has often resulted in shortages of necessities.
According to Naim Achibi, a spokesman for the Libyan embassy in Tunis, a convoy of 96 trucks carrying sugar, oil, wheat, and rice from Tripoli through the Ras Jedir crossing on Tuesday morning.
“These provisions are a donation from the government of national unity (in Tripoli) to help Tunisia tackle the acute shortages” of these products, he told newsmen.
According to him, the operation is expected to bring 170 truckloads of supplies from Tripoli. Tunisia is suffering from a downturn that has worsened since its 2011 revolution, which was itself brought on by financial difficulties.
Since President Kais Saied’s stunning takeover of power in July 2021, the nation has experienced recurrent shortages of basic supplies, including coffee and gasoline.
A bustling cross-border economy, both legal and illegal, is concentrated in the region between Tunisia and Libya.
Following the 2011 uprising that ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi, Libya descended into a bloody chaos, and two competing governments are now vying for control.
However, despite the violence, Africa is comparatively prosperous compared to its resource-poor neighbor because to profits from its largest oil reserves. Libyans traveling to Tunisia for medical care are also common.
The food donation comes less than two months after Tunis was visited by Tripoli-based temporary prime minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah in an effort to thaw chilly relations with Saied’s administration.
