Franco-Libyan relations
Encyclopedia
France as Middle-Eastern Arms Dealer
LibyaLibya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
developed particularly close relations with France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
after the June 1967 War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
, when France relaxed its arms embargo on nonfront-line Middle East combatants and agreed to sell weapons to the Libyans such as Mirage 5 aircraft. In 1974 Libya and France signed an agreement whereby Libya exchanged a guaranteed oil supply for technical assistance and financial cooperation. By 1976, however, Libya began criticizing France as an "arms merchant" because of its willingness to sell weapons to both sides in the Middle East conflict because France was also Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's primary arms supplier (from its modern 1948 Independence War until the mid-1960s), including selling Israel the same Mirage 5 fighters as it sold Libya. Libya later criticized France for its willingness to sell arms to Egypt. Far more serious was Libya's dissatisfaction with French military intervention in the Western Sahara, Chad, and Zaire. In 1978 Qadhafi noted that although economic relations were good, political relations were not, and he accused France of having reverted to a colonialist policy that former French president Charles de Gaulle had earlier abandoned.
Chadian Civil War
In the 1980s, Libyan-French discord centered on the situation in Chad. As mentioned, the two countries found themselves supporting opposite sides in the Chadian Civil WarChadian Civil War
The Transitional Government of National Unity was the coalition government of armed groups that nominally ruled Chad from 1979 to 1982, during the most chaotic phase of the long-running civil war that began in 1965. The GUNT replaced the fragile alliance led by Félix Malloum and Hissène Habré,...
. In late 1987, there were 1,300 French troops in Chad, primarily defending the Chadian capital N'DJamena from attack, including an air attack using Tupolev Tu-22
Tupolev Tu-22
The Tupolev Tu-22 was the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union. Manufactured by Tupolev, the Tu-22 entered service with the Soviet military in the 1960s, and the last examples were retired during the 1990s...
strategic bombers; France also gave $90 million in military aid to Chad that year.". However, French policy did not permit its forces to cross the sixteenth parallel. Thus, direct clashes with Libyan soldiers seemed unlikely. However, Libyan diplomats still accused France of having "direct responsibility" in the escalation of the war, and the Libyan news agency JANA called the raid a "combined Franco-American military action" and charged that Washington and Paris were "behind the aggression against Libya."
UTA Flight 772
French-Libyan relations deteriorated substantially in the aftermath of the 1989 UTA Flight 772 bombing. On September 19, 1989, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10McDonnell Douglas DC-10
The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 has range for medium- to long-haul flights, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a...
airliner operated by French airline UTA
UTA
-Computer Software Application:Unmanned Trading Application - computer application automatically generating orders to electronic financial market, also known as algorithmic trading,automated trading or black Box-Places:Italy...
(Union de Transports Aeriens) as UTA Flight 772
UTA Flight 772
UTA Flight 772 of the French airline Union des Transports Aériens was a scheduled flight operating from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, via N'Djamena in Chad, to Paris CDG airport in France....
, was destroyed by a bomb in the cargo hold, killing all 170 passengers and crew (including 54 French nationals). France blamed Libya for the attack. The cour d'assise de Paris found 6 Libyans guilty of the attack and awarded the families of the UTA victims sums ranging from €3 000 to €30 000 depending on their relationship to the dead. The French relatives' group "Les Familles du DC10 d'UTA"[8] signed an agreement on 9 January 2004 with the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations accepting a compensation payment of $170 million United States dollars, or $1 million for each of the 170 UTA victims. Similarly, US District Judge Henry H. Kennedy ( of the District of Columbia) also found Libya directly responsible for the bombing in 2007 (in a trial brought by the families of 7 US nationals killed on the flight). France (and other nations affected by this bombing) have continued to seek financial compensation from Libya - see the UTA Flight 772
UTA Flight 772
UTA Flight 772 of the French airline Union des Transports Aériens was a scheduled flight operating from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, via N'Djamena in Chad, to Paris CDG airport in France....
article for further details.
2011 Libyan Civil War
On March 10, 2011, France was the first country in the world to recognise the National Transitional CouncilNational Transitional Council
The National Transitional Council of Libya , sometimes known as the Transitional National Council, the Interim National Council, or the Libyan National Council,...
as the legitimate government of Libya, in the context of the 2011 Libyan Civil War
2011 Libyan civil war
The 2011 Libyan civil war was an armed conflict in the North African state of Libya, fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Benghazi beginning on 15 February 2011, which led to clashes with security...
against Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
.
French Rafale and Mirage 2000 fighter planes also conducted the first military strikes against Gaddafi's forces by the Western nations and the United Nations - from 1645 onwards on March 19, 2011 approximately 20 such French warplanes destroyed Libyan tanks and armored vehicles. Some reports state that these French air strikes began even before the end of the emergency meetings in Paris between the leaders of the Western nations and therefore were not coordinated with the air strikes of other nations, causing some friction among the allies.
After the NTC dissolved its Executive Board on 8 August and tasked its chairman, Mahmoud Jibril
Mahmoud Jibril
Mahmoud Jibril el-Warfally , also transcribed Jabril or Jebril or Gebril, is a Libyan politician who served as the interim Prime Minister of Libya for seven and a half months during the 2011 Libyan civil war, chairing the executive board of the National Transitional Council from 5 March 2011 to 23...
, with forming a new one, France called the move "a sovereign decision". In a statement, the French Foreign Ministry said a new board should be "rapidly designated".