Musaid or Imsaad ( ar, امساعد) is a town in

Butnan District Butnan ( ar, البطنان ') sometimes called ''Tubruq District'' or ''Tobruk District'' from the former name, occasionally ''Marmarica'', is an administrative district (shabiyah) in eastern Libya. Its capital city is Tobruk. In the north, B ...

in eastern

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

. Alternates names include: Oistant, Msa'ed, Imsa'ed, and Musa'ed. Musaid lies approximately east of

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near ...

and is the major

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...

crossing between Libya and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

History

Musaid was the site of heavy fighting during the brief Libyan–Egyptian War of 1977. This war, the break-off of Libyan-Egyptian diplomatic relations, and the resultant trade embargo with Egypt, had a very negative impact on Musaid. For example, Musaid's population shrank from 4,330 in 1973 to 3,200 in 1984 (-26.1%), while overall Libya's population rose in the same period by 60.30%.

Culture

Nearby is the Sidi Shahir Ruhih shrine."Sīdī Shāhir Rūḩih, in Ţubruq, Libya"
''Travelingluck.com'', accessed 9 May 2009

Economy

Musaid's economy depended heavily on trade between Egypt and Libya. After the 1977 war and the follow-on trade embargo with Egypt, this was replaced in part by smuggling, aided by the close tribal ties across the border."عاجل : وجود تمركز مكثف لقوات الأمن العام ( الدعم المركزي ) بمنطقة ..." ("public security forces concentrated in distant border region")
14 November 2008, ''Panorama Libya'', in Arabic In 2008, the Libyan government acted to suppress the smugglers.

Border crossing

As of autumn 2010, a large suite of new border facilities is under construction.

Notes

External links