The Independent Arabia website confirmed that a number of Tunisian merchants expressed widespread complaint about the practices of armed security formations and militias, especially those responsible for managing the Ras Ijdir border crossing, noting that “extortion has become a common practice by these groups, by imposing fictitious customs duties.” And extracting illegal royalties from travelers and cars.”
The website indicated, in a report, that merchants complained of what they described as being subjected to “all kinds of abuse by these groups, which reached the point where their cars and trucks were smashed and broken,” while some merchants were forced to pay bribes so that they would not be subjected to beatings and insults.
The website attributed this suffering to the absence of state authority on the Libyan side in the wake of the February Nakba, and quoted one of the merchants as saying, “The situation on the Libyan border is dire. These armed groups treat all merchants as if they are engaged in smuggling, and we are subjected to ill treatment, beatings, and verbal violence.”
