13 April 2009

Tripoli - A former prime minister in Libya has been named the country's new spy chief, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Abu Zeid Durda replaces Mussa Kussa, who was appointed foreign minister last month after 15 years as head of the intelligence service, said the Korina newspaper which is close to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam.

Durda, who was premier from 1990 to 1994, has also previously held the posts of foreign, information, economy and agriculture ministers, and also served as the country's ambassador at the United Nations and in Canada.

Kussa, 59, was named foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle, taking over from Abdel Rahman Shalgham who held the post for eight years and will now represent Libya at the UN Security Council.

Libya, Niger Sign Border Security Agreement

Pro Libyan PanAfrica, reports on Monday that Libya and Niger had signed an agreement on how to secure their common border and also fight against illegal immigrants.

Under the agreement, either party would undertake to present proposals for a practical plan to institute patrols at the frontiers by taking into account the nature of the region, by determining roads, ways and practices used by those who infiltrate through the borders, drug traffickers and illegal immigrants.

The plan involves human personnel, means of transport and communications and equipment and instruments required for its implementation.

The agreement underlines the importance of meetings between heads of border stations from the two countries to coordinate and promote cooperation and direct contact between them and stipulate the cooperation in the fight against terrorism and organized crime.

Both parties stressed the need to adopt the principle of direct bilateral contact to make information exchange faster within the concerned security organs, particularly emergency information related to security of both countries.

They also underlined the importance of exchanges and meetings between security officials in this domain to let people know about the means and techniques in force and taking into account the experience and expertise of both countries.

The agreement focuses on cooperation in the fight against hard drugs through visits and meetings between heads of departments fighting against drugs in both countries to inquire about techniques in the fight against this blight and the means to discover it.

Libya and Niger underlined the need to establish a direct contact between heads of organs fighting against drugs in both countries to make easier data exchanges on criminal.