Passengers wait for their flights in the departure hall at Tripoli International Airport. With a bomb on the runway, pets boarding planes and passengers jetting off without visas, Tripoli International Airport typifies the chaos that has gripped Libya since the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. — Reuters Ulf Laessing TRIPOLI — With a bomb on the runway, pets boarding planes and passengers jetting off without visas, Tripoli International Airport typifies the chaos that has gripped Libya since the 2011 ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. Western powers and Libya's neighbors worry the capital city's airport could be a gateway for illegal immigrants, including militant Islamists, from Africa and conflict zones such as Syria. Morocco has just introduced visa requirements for Libyans after one group of travelers arrived on forged Libyan passports, and some European and Arab airlines have stopped flying to Tripoli for security reasons. The European Union is training officials and helping upgrade facilities at the aging airport, a former British military base from World War II, but a few new luggage scanners won't address the underlying security problem — a government that is struggling to impose its authority on a country awash with arms and militias. Like much of the North African country, the area surrounding the airport is controlled by one of the dozens of brigades of rebels that helped overthrow Gaddafi and have refused to give up their arms. Political analyst Salah Elbakhoush said the airport was in the middle of a power struggle, with other armed groups, residents and civil aviation staff challenging the control of the militia from Zintan in western Libya. "People are fed up with them," he said. "The situation west of Tripoli (near the terminal) ... is very dangerous. The government is too weak to do anything." Nightly shootouts have become more frequent in the area, making the airport road one of the most dangerous places in the capital, where security has deteriorated in recent months. Whoever controls the airport, located about 30 km outside Tripoli, gets access to business at the terminal, which is a main cargo and smuggling hub. Diplomats say the struggle between militias explains a bomb explosion on the main runway in March. An unknown group has claimed responsibility for the attack on social media, though the government has not said who was behind it. The interim government is trying hard to boost airport security, but its nascent security forces are still in training, and the loyalty of some is questionable. Security staff include former police officers from the Gaddafi era along with newcomers from civil war militias integrated by the government to get them off the streets. They wear official uniforms but in practice sometimes report to their militia commanders, tribes or families. "You cannot walk into the airport perimeter, plant a bomb on the runway and fire it from outside by remote control without some people looking the other way for some time," said another diplomat. Flights halted Still, Western diplomats and security experts have no illusions about the challenges, describing airport security as a "nightmare" or "disaster". "The Libyans basically don't know who is entering or leaving their country," said one Western diplomat. Even if luggage or passport checks were enforced, the equipment is not up to the task. "The present scanners have no explosive detection systems," said Jean Assice, a French civil aviation engineer whose firm represents nine European and American security equipment manufacturers active in Libya. "The luggage surveillance is out of date, the video surveillance system is out of date," Assice said. "Ninety percent of the cargo is not controlled." Germany's Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have halted flights, handing over lucrative business — a return flight costs up to $1,000 thanks to a risk premium from Tripoli to, say, London or Frankfurt — to more intrepid carriers such as Turkish Airlines, which has increased flights. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad stopped flying in November, saying "the existing situation at Tripoli airport does not provide the level of assurance we require to ensure safe operation of our flights". — Reuters
