Sudan ordered the closure of its borders with Libya and Central African Republic on Thursday over security concerns, the country’s ruling body announced, the first such decision since the fall of autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

Chad’s justice minister has said a “special criminal court” handed jail terms to 243 rebels who crossed from Libya in February, before their incursion was halted by French air raids.

In 2020, when Tunisia begins its two-year term as non-permanent member of the Security Council, the country will have the biggest opportunity to influence international affairs since becoming a democracy in 2011. In response to the appointment, Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui declared “Tunisia will be the voice of Africa …

Chad’s Defense Minister, Mahamat Abali Sala, on Wednesday, announced the closure of his country’s land borders with Libya, Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR) citing security reasons for the move.

Thousands of refugees and migrants trapped in detention centres across Libya should be evacuated to Europe, the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said.

Egyptian security experts suspect that a wall being constructed by Libya will be ineffective in stopping terrorists and arms smugglers at Libya’s porous eastern border with Egypt.

The French Defense Ministry has announced that its armed forces have intervened in northern Chad and launched airstrikes on an armed group coming in from Libya.

The UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Libya’s Airports Authority to supply it with explosives detectors.

Libya, Chad, Niger and Sudan have agreed to hold a ministerial meeting on border control, in the Nigerian capital of Niamey on February 20.

Tunisia’s biggest union, UGTT, started a nationwide strike Thursday affecting the country’s airports, schools and state media to protest the government’s refusal to raise the salaries of 670,000 public servants.