TUNIS, 8 July. - (ANA) - Tunisia Prime Minister Habib Essid announced plans Tuesday to build a wall along part of its eastern border with Libya in a bid to contain the inflow of jihadist militants.

The wall will stretch 160 kilometres from the coast inland, covering about a third of Tunisia’s 460-kilometre border with its eastern neighbour, Essid told state TV.

The security fence is expected to be completed by the end of 2015, he added.

The Tunisian army would build the wall, which would have surveillance centres at certain points along the fence, said Essid.

The announcement came weeks after a gunman, who is believed to have trained in Libya, opened fire on a Tunisian beach resort, killing 38 people.

Tunisia declared a state of emergency shortly after the June 26 attack in Sousse.

Four years after Tunisia led the way in ushering the 2011 uprisings, the tiny North African country has evaded some of the worst political instability that has gripped other Arab nations. But the collapse of security in neighbouring Libya has turned into the gravest threat confronting Tunisia today.

In March, gunmen attacked the National Bardo Museum in Tunis, killing 22 people, most of them tourists.

Addressing parliament on Wednesday, Essid said he believed plots aimed at massive deaths and the destruction of the country's economy are in the works, and justify the current state of emergency.

But balancing tough security with new-found freedoms may come with a price, and rights campaigners worry a crackdown is the slippery slope to oppression that may feed militant ranks in a country where many youth already feel alienated.

The targeting of the country’s vital tourism industry threatens Tunisia’s economy as well as its security. With an overwhelmingly young population, and an official unemployment rate of 15 percent, Tunisia has turned into the biggest source of foreign jihadists in the Iraq-Syria conflict.

Neighbouring Libya provides a haven for Tunisian jihadists with sleeper cells infiltrating back across the Libya-Tunisia border, according to security experts. - (ANA)

AB/ANA/ 8 July 2015 - - -