Global Arab Network | UN sets up Libya office to fight crime in North Africa

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UN sets up Libya office to fight crime in North Africa

Wednesday, 11 November 2009 21:39

Libya signed an agreement with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Tuesday to join forces to crack down on organised crime in the Maghreb region, officials said.

UNODC will open an office in Tripoli aimed at providing technical support to help fight organised crime, drugs and human trafficking, corruption and money laundering, UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa said.

He was speaking to reporters at a news conference after signing the agreement with Libyan Interior Minister Abdelfattah Laabidi in Tripoli.

The United Nations will also help Maghreb countries in North Africa -- Algeria, Libya, Mauritania and Morocco -- to modernise their criminal justice system and help rehabilitate drug addicts, he said.

Libya has pledged to disburse a first instalment of six million dollars to help kick-start the activities of the crime-busting operation, the UNODC's Cairo-based regional representative Mohammed Abdel Aziz said.

Trafficking in drugs and people, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, is on the rise across Maghreb countries.

Libya is a key transit route for drugs that come mainly from Egypt, Morocco and Turkey, and the authorities in Tripoli report huge hauls each week, mainly of hashish and heroin.

(AFP)

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