(15 Jul 2014) LEADIN:
With Libya's security deteriorating, neighbouring countries are offering to help the North African nation control its borders, collect heavy weapons and reconcile rival political forces.
It comes after a two-day meeting of foreign ministers in Tunisia.
STORYLINE:
As foreign ministers met in Tunisia to thrash out solutions to Libya's turmoil, explosions and gunfire could be heard ringing out around the international airport in Tripoli.
At least six people were killed and 25 injured when rival militias battled for control of the transport hub on Sunday.
Bullet holes were left in planes and bus windows were smashed.
Tripoli is witnessing one of its worst spasms of violence since the ouster of long time dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
It's worrying foreign ministers from neighbouring countries, who've been meeting in the Tunisian city of Hammamet.
Representatives from Algeria, Sudan, Chad and Niger are all here, as well as others from Egypt, Libya, the Arab League and the African Union.
As a result of the meeting, Libyan authorities are said to have agreed to create joint border control forces.
Support for helping officials collect heavy weapons - circulating widely and falling into the hands of militant groups around Africa - has also been agreed.
Tunisia's Foreign Minister, who's been presiding over the two-day meeting, announced the formation of two commissions to move the process forward.
Algeria will be in charge of a security commission and Egypt of a political commission - while Tunisia will supervise both.
"The security commission will offer a vision to create a shared entity to protect the borders and another entity to help our Libyans brothers to collect the heavy weapons, as well as another vision on the means for security collaboration and cooperation regarding intelligence, especially in the war against terrorism, organised crime and arms trafficking," says Mongi Hamdi, Tunisia's Foreign Minister.
The political commission will focus on bringing groups together for dialogue, with the aim of finding a political solution to the crisis.
Some diplomats expressed the importance of forming a joint policy that would focus all the efforts in the same direction.
"We reaffirm that the diversity of efforts and initiatives only led to the complication of the situation in Libya," explains Mohamed Badr El-Din Zayed, Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister.
The presence of militant groups in Libya, such as Ansar Al-Sharia who claimed responsibility for the 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, is also a source of worry for the country's neighbours.
"I think that terrorist groups linked to terrorist organisations are the only ones who do not have an interest in this Libyan compromise, because these terrorist groups mainly do not want peace, stability, the building of a Libyan society and a democratic change," says Ramtane Lamamra, Algerian Foreign Minister.
The diplomats plan to meet in Cairo in mid-August to discuss the progress of their work.
The United Nations announced on Monday that it was withdrawing staff from Libya due to the deteriorating security situation.
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