Libya-Chad conflict
Encyclopedia
The Chadian–Libyan conflict was a state of sporadic warfare events in Chad
between 1978 and 1987 between Libya
n and Chadian forces. Libya had been involved in Chad's internal affairs prior to 1978 and before Muammar Gaddafi
's rise to power in Libya in 1969, beginning with the extension of the Chadian Civil War to northern Chad in 1968. The conflict was marked by a series of four separate Libyan interventions in Chad, taking place in 1978, 1979, 1980–1981 and 1983–1987. In all of these occasions Gaddafi had the support of a number of factions participating in the civil war, while Libya's opponents found the support of the French government, which intervened militarily to save the Chadian government in 1978, 1983 and 1986.
The military pattern of the war delineated itself in 1978, with the Libyans providing armour, artillery and air support and their Chadian allies the infantry, that assumed the bulk of the scouting and fighting. This pattern was radically changed in 1986, towards the end of the war, when all Chadian forces united in opposing the Libyan occupation of northern Chad with a degree of unity that had never been seen before in Chad. This deprived the Libyan forces of their habitual infantry, exactly when they found themselves confronting a mobile army, well provided now with anti-tank and anti-air missiles, thus cancelling the Libyan superiority in fire-power. What followed was the Toyota War
, in which the Libyan forces were routed and expelled from Chad, putting an end to the conflict.
Regarding the reasons behind Gaddafi's involvement with Chad, the initial reason stood in his ambition to annex the Aouzou Strip, the northernmost part of Chad that he claimed as part of Libya on the grounds of an unratified treaty of the colonial period. In 1972 his goals became, in the evaluation of historian Mario Azevedo, the creation of a client state in Libya's "underbelly", an Islamic republic modelled after his jamahiriya
, that would maintain close ties with Libya, and secure his control over the Aouzou Strip; expulsion of the French from the region, and use of Chad as a base to expand his influence in Central Africa
.
, when the insurgent Muslim
National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT
) extended its guerrilla war against the Christian
President
François Tombalbaye
to the northerly Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture (BET). Libya's king Idris I felt compelled to support the FROLINAT because of long-standing strong links between the two sides of the Chadian-Libyan border. To preserve relations with Chad's former colonial master and current protector, France
, Idris limited himself to granting the rebels sanctuary in Libyan territory and to providing only non-lethal supplies.
All this changed with the Libyan coup d'état
of 1 September 1969 that deposed Idris and brought Muammar Gaddafi
to power. Gaddafi claimed the Aouzou Strip in northern Chad, referring to an unratified treaty signed in 1935 by Italy
and France
, (then the colonial powers of Libya and Chad, respectively). Such claims had been previously made when in 1954 Idris had tried to occupy Aouzou, but his troops were repelled by the French Colonial Forces
.
Though initially wary of the FROLINAT, Gaddafi had come to see by 1970 the organization as useful to his needs and with the support of Soviet bloc
nations, particularly East Germany
, trained and armed the insurgents, and provided them with weapons and funding. On August 27, 1971 Chad accused Egypt and Libya of backing a coup against then president Tombalbaye by recently amnestied Chadians.
On the same day of the failed coup, Tombalbaye cut all diplomatic relations with Libya and Egypt, and invited all Libyan opposition groups to base themselves in Chad, and started laying claims to Fezzan
on the grounds of "historical rights". Gaddafi's answer was to officially recognize on 17 September the FROLINAT as the sole legitimate government of Chad, while in October the Chadian Foreign Minister Baba Hassan denounced at the United Nations
Libya's "expansionist ideas".
Through French pressure on Libya, and with Hamani Diori
the President
of Niger
playing the role of mediator, the two countries resumed diplomatic relations on 17 April 1972. Shortly after, Tombalbaye broke diplomatic relations with Israel
and is said to have secretly accepted on 28 November to cede the Aouzou Strip to Libya; in exchange Gaddafi pledged 40 million pounds to the Chadian President and the two countries signed in December a Treaty of Friendship. Gaddafi withdrew official support to the FROLINAT and forced its leader Abba Siddick
to move his headquarters from Tripoli
to Algiers
. Good relations were confirmed in the following years, with Gaddafi visiting the Chadian capital N'Djamena
in March 1974, and in the same month a joint bank was created to provide Chad with investment funds.
Six months after the signature of the 1972 treaty, Libyan troops moved into the Strip and established just north of Aouzou an airbase protected by surface-to-air missiles. A civil administration was set up, attached to Kufra
, and Libyan citizenship was extended to the few thousand inhabitants of the area. From that moment, Libyan maps represented the area as part of Libya.
The exact terms by which Libya gained Aouzou remain partly obscure, and are debated. The existence of a secret agreement between Tombalbaye and Gaddafi was revealed only in 1988, when the Libyan President exhibited an alleged copy of a letter in which Tombalbaye recognizes Libyan claims. Against this, scholars like Bernard Lanne have argued that there never was any sort of formal agreement, and that simply Tombalbaye had found expedient for himself not to make mention of the occupation of a part of his country. Also, Libya was unable to exhibit the original copy of the agreement when the case of the Aouzou Strip was brought in 1993 before the International Court of Justice
.
removed Tombalbaye
and replaced him with General Felix Malloum
. As opposition to Tombalbaye's policy of appeasement towards Libya was among the reasons behind the coup, Gaddafi felt the coup as a menace to his influence in Chad and resumed supplying the FROLINAT.
In April 1976, there was a Gaddafi-backed attempted assassination of Malloum, and in the same year Libyan troops started making forays into central Chad in company of FROLINAT forces.
Libyan activism began generating concerns in the strongest faction into which the FROLINAT had split, the Command Council of the Armed Forces of the North
(CCFAN). On the issue of the interested nature of Libyan support the insurgents split in October 1976, with a minority leaving the militia and forming the Armed Forces of the North
(FAN), led by the anti-Libyan Hissène Habré
, while the majority, willing to accept an alliance with Gaddafi, was commanded by Goukouni Oueddei
. The latter group was to shortly after rename itself People's Armed Forces
(FAP).
In those years, Gaddafi's support had been mostly moral, with only a limited supply of weapons. All this started changing in February 1977, when the Libyans provided Goukouni's men with hundreds of AK-47
assault rifle
s, dozens of bazooka
s, 81 and 82mm mortar
s and recoil
less cannon
s. Armed with these weapons, the FAP attacked in June the Chadian Armed Forces
' (FAT) strongholds of Bardaï
and Zouar
in Tibesti and of Ounianga Kebir in Borkou. Goukouni assumed with this attack full control of the Tibesti, because Bardaï, besieged since 22 June, surrendered on 4 July, while Zouar was evacuated. The FAT lost 300 men, and piles of military supplies fell into the hands of the rebels. Ounianga was attacked on June 20, but was saved for the time being by the French military advisors present there.
This year, as it had become evident that the Aouzou Strip was being used by Libya as a base for deeper involvement in Chad, Malloum decided to bring the issue of the Strip's occupation before the United Nations
and the Organisation of African Unity. Malloum also decided he needed new allies; because of this, he negotiated a formal alliance with Habré, the Khartoum Accord, in September. This accord was kept secret until 22 January, when a Fundamental Charter was signed, following which a National Union Government was formed on 29 August 1978 with Habré as Prime Minister. The Malloum-Habré accord was actively promoted by Sudan
and Saudi Arabia
, both of which feared a radical Chad controlled by Gaddafi and saw in Habré, with his good Muslim and anti-colonialialist credentials, the only chance to thwart Gaddafi's plans.
, Fada and Ounianga Kebir. The attacks were successful, and Goukouni and the Libyans assumed control of the BET Prefecture.
The decisive confrontation between the Libyan-FAP forces and the Chadian regular forces took place at Faya-Largeau, the capital of the BET. The city, defended by 5,000 Chadian soldiers, fell on 18 February after sharp fighting to 2,500 rebels, supported by possibly as many as 4,000 Libyan troops. The Libyans do not seem to have directly participated in the fighting; in a pattern that was to repeat itself in the future, the Libyans provided armor, artillery and air support. The rebels also were much better armed than before, displaying Strela 2
surface-to-air missile
s.
Goukouni had made about 2,500 prisoners with these successes and those in 1977; as a result, the Chadian Armed Forces had lost at least 20% of its manpower, and in particular the Nomad and National Guard
(GNN) was decimated by the fall of Fada and Faya. Goukouni used these victories to strengthen his position in the FROLINAT: during a Libyan-sponsored congress held in March in Faya, the insurgency's main factions reunited themselves and nominated Goukouni new secretary-general of the FROLINAT.
Malloum's reaction to the Goukouni–Gaddafi offensive was to sever diplomatic relations with Libya on 6 February and bring before the United Nations Security Council
the issue of Libyan involvement in the fighting, as well as raising again the question of Libya's occupation of the Aouzou Strip; but on 19 February, after the fall of Faya, Malloum was forced to accept a ceasefire
and withdraw the protest. The ceasefire was reached also because Libya had halted the advance of Goukouni, because of pressure from France, then an important weapon supplier of the Arab country.
Malloum and Gaddafi restored diplomatic relations on 24 February at Sabha in Libya, where an international peace conference was held which included as mediators Niger's President Seyni Kountché
and Sudan's Vice-President. Under severe pressure from France, Sudan and Zaire, Malloum was forced to sign on March 27 the Benghazi Accord, which recognized the FROLINAT and agreed on a new ceasefire. Among the chief conditions of the agreement was creation of a joint Libya–Niger military committee, that was tasked with implementing the agreement; through this committee, Chad legitimized Libyan intervention in its territory. The accord also contained another condition dear to Libya, as it asked for the termination of all French military presence in Chad. The stillborn accord was for Gaddafi nothing more than a strategy to strengthen his protégé Goukouni; it also weakened considerably Malloum's prestige among southern Chadians, who saw his concessions as a proof of his weak leadership.
On 15 April, only a few days after signing the ceasefire, Goukouni left Faya, leaving there a Libyan garrison of 800 men. Relying on Libyan armor and airpower, Goukouni's forces conquered a small FAT garrison and pointed towards the capital N'Djamena
.
Against these stood freshly arrived French forces. Already in 1977, after Goukouni's first offensives, Malloum had asked for a French military return in Chad, but President
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
was at first reluctant to commit himself before the carrying out of the legislative elections
, held in March 1978; also, France was afraid of damaging its profitable commercial and diplomatic relations with Libya. At the end, the rapid deterioration of the situation in Chad resolved the President on February 20, 1978 to start Opération Tacaud
, that by April brought in Chad 2,500 troops to secure the capital from the rebels.
The decisive battle took place at Ati
, a town 270 miles northeast of N'Djamena. The town's garrison of 1,500 soldiers was attacked on May 19 by the FROLINAT insurgents, equipped with artillery and modern weapons. The garrison was relieved by the arrival supported by armor of a Chadian task force and, more importantly, of the Foreign Legion
and the 3rd Regiment of Marine Infantry; in a two-day battle, the FROLINAT was repelled with heavy losses, a victory that was confirmed in June by another engagement at Djedaa, after which the FROLINAT admitted defeat and fled north, after having lost 2,000 men and left the "ultramodern equipment" they carried on the ground. Of key importance in these battles was the complete air superiority the French could count on, as the Libyan Air Force pilots refused to fight the French.
, attacked Faya-Largeau with the support of Libyan troops in what was apparently an attempt by Gaddafi to remove Goukouni from the leadership of the FROLINAT, replacing him with Acyl. The attempt backfired, as Goukouni reacted by expelling all Libyan military advisors present in Chad, and started searching for a compromise with France.
The reasons for the clash between Gaddafi and Goukouni were both ethnic and political. The FROLINAT was divided between Arabs, like Acyl, and Toubou
s, like Goukouni and Habré. These ethnic divisions also reflected a different attitude towards Gaddafi and his Green Book. In particular, Goukouni and his men had shown themselves reluctant to follow Gaddafi's solicitations to make The Green Book the official policy of the FROLINAT, and had first tried to take time, leaving the question to the complete reunification of the movement. When the unification was accomplished, and Gaddafi pressed again for the adoption of The Green Book, the dissensions in the Revolution's Council became manifest, with many proclaiming their loyalty to the movement's original platform approved in 1966 when Ibrahim Abatcha
was made first secretary-general, while others, among whom Acyl, fully embraced the Colonel's ideas.
In N'Djamena, the contemporary presence of two armies, the FAN of the Prime Minister Habré and the FAT of the President Malloum, prepared the stage for the battle of N'Djamena, which was to bring about the collapse of the State and the ascent to power of the Northern elite. A minor incident escalated on February 12, 1979 into heavy fighting between Habré and Malloum's forces, and the battle intensified on February 19 when Goukouni's men entered in the capital to fight alongside Habré against the FAT. It is estimated that by March 16, when the first international peace conference took place, 2,000–5,000 people were killed and 60,000–70,000 forced to flee the capital, and the greatly diminished Chadian army left the capital in the rebels' hand and reorganized itself in the south under the leadership of Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué
. During the battle, the French garrison stood passively by, even helping Habré in certain circumstances, as when they demanded the Chad Air Force
to stop its bombings.
An international peace conference was held in Kano
in Nigeria, to which Chad's bordering states participated with Malloum for the Chadian army, Habré for the FAN and Goukouni for the FAP. The Kano Accord
was signed on March 16 by all those present, and Malloum resigned, replaced by a Council of State under the chairmanship of Goukouni. This was a result of Nigerian and French pressures on Goukouni and Habré to share power; the French in particular saw this as part of their strategy to cut all ties between Goukouni and Gaddafi. A few weeks later, the same factions formed the Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT), kept together to a considerable extent by the common desire to see Libya out of Chad.
Despite signing the Kano Accord, Libya was incensed that the GUNT did not include any of the leaders of the Volcan Army and had not recognized Libyan claims on the Aouzou Strip. Already since 13 April there had been some minor Libyan military activity in northern Chad, and support was provided to the secessionist movement in the south, but a major response came only after June 25, when the ultimatum for the formation of a new, more inclusive, coalition government posed by Chad's bordering states to the GUNT expired. On June 26, 2,500 Libyan troops invaded Chad directed to Faya-Largeau. The Chadian government appealed for French help. The Libyan forces were first stymied by Goukouni's militiamen, and then forced to retreat by French reconnaissance planes and bombers. In the same month, the factions excluded by the GUNT founded a counter-government, the Front for Joint Provisional Action (FACP), in northern Chad with Libyan military support.
The fighting with Libya, the imposition by Nigeria of an economic boycott and international pressure brought to a new international peace conference in Lagos
in August, to which all eleven factions present in Chad participated. A new accord
was signed on August 21, under which a new GUNT was to be formed, open to all factions. The French troops were to leave Chad, and be replaced by a multinational African peace force. The new GUNT took office in November, with Goukouni President, Kamougué Vice-President, Habré Defence Minister and Acyl Foreign Minister. Despite the presence of Habré, the new composition of the GUNT had enough pro-Libyans to satisfy Gaddafi.
As expected, clashes in the capital between Habré's FAN and pro-Libyan groups became progressively more serious; in the end, on March 22, 1980 a minor incident, like in 1979 with the first, triggered the second battle of N'Djamena. In ten days, the clashes between the FAN and Goukouni's FAP, who both had 1,000–1,500 troops in the city, had caused thousands of casualties and the flight of about half the capital's population. The few remaining French troops, who left on May 4, proclaimed themselves neutral, as did the Zairian
peace force.
While the FAN was supplied economically and militarily by Sudan and Egypt
, Goukouni received shortly after the beginning of the battle the armed support of Kamougué's FAT and Acyl's CDR, and was provided with Libyan artillery. On June 6, the FAN assumed control of the city of Faya; this alarmed Goukouni, and he signed, on June 15, a Treaty of Friendship with Libya. The treaty gave Libya a free hand in Chad, legitimising its presence in that country: this was especially evident in the first article of the treaty, where it was written that the two countries were committed to mutual defence, and a threat against one constituted a threat against the other.
Beginning in October, Libyan troops airlifted to the Aouzou Strip operated in conjunction with Goukouni's forces to reoccupy Faya. The city was then used as an assembly point for tanks, artillery and armored vehicles that moved south against the capital of N'Djamena.
An attack started on December 6, spearheaded by Soviet T-54 and T-55
tank
s and reportedly coordinated by advisors from the Soviet Union
and the German Democratic Republic
, brought the fall of the capital on December 16. The Libyan force, numbering between 7,000 and 9,000 men of regular units and the paramilitary Pan-African Islamic Legion
, 60 tanks, and other armored vehicles, had been ferried across 1,100 kilometers of desert from Libya's southern border, partly by airlift and tank transporters and partly under their own power. The border itself was 1,000 to 1,100 kilometers from Libya's main bases on the Mediterranean
coast. The Libyan intervention demonstrated an impressive logistical ability, and provided Gaddafi with his first military victory and a substantial political achievement.
While forced into exile and with his forces confined to the frontier zones of Darfur
, Habré remained defiant: on December 31 he announced in Dakar
he would resume fighting as a guerrilla against the GUNT.
, that on January 11 offered to strengthen French garrisons in friendly African states and on January 15 placed the French Mediterranean fleet on alert. Libya answered by threatening to impose an oil embargo, while France threatened to react if Libya attacked another bordering country. The accord was also opposed by all GUNT ministers present with Goukouni at Tripoli, with the exception of Acyl.
Most observers believe that the reasons behind Goukouni's accepting the accord may be found in a mix of threats, intense pressure and the financial help promised by Gaddafi. Also, just before his visit to the Libyan capital, Goukouni had sent two of his commanders to Libya for consultations; at Tripoli, Goukouni learned from Gaddafi that they had been assassinated by "Libyan dissidents", and that if he didn't want to risk losing Libyan favour and lose power, he should accept the merger plan.
The importance of the opposition they met caused Gaddafi and Goukouni to downplay the importance of the communiqué, speaking of a "union" of peoples, and not of states, and as a "first step" towards closer collaboration. But the damage had been done, and the joint communiqué badly weakened Goukouni's prestige as a nationalist and a statesman.
Increasing international pressure against Libyan presence in Chad were at first met by Goukouni's statement that the Libyans were present in Chad because requested by the government, and that international mediators should simply accept the decision of Chad's legitimate government. In a meeting held in May Goukouni had become more accommodating, declaring that while the Libyan forces withdrawal was not a priority, he would accept the decisions of the OAU. Goukouni could hardly at the time renounce Libyan military support, necessary for dealing with Habré's FAN, which was supported by Egypt and Sudan and funded through Egypt by the United States Central Intelligence Agency
.
In the meantime, relations between Goukouni and Gaddafi started deteriorating. Libyan troops were stationed in various points of northern and central Chad, in numbers that had reached by January–February about 14,000 troops. The Libyan forces in the country created considerable annoyance in the GUNT, by supporting Acyl's faction in its disputes with the other militias, including the clashes held in late April with Goukouni's FAP. There were also attempts to Libyanize the local population, that made many conclude that "unification" for Libya meant Arabization and the imposition of Libyan political culture, in particular of The Green Book.
Amid fighting in October between Gaddafi's Islamic Legionnaires and Goukouni's troops, and rumors that Acyl was planning a coup d'état to assume the leadership of the GUNT, Goukouni demanded on October 29 the complete and unequivocal withdrawal of Libyan forces from Chadian territory, which, beginning with the capital, was to be completed by December 31. The Libyans were to be replaced by an Organization for African Unity (OAU) Inter-African Force (IAF). Gaddafi complied, and by November 16 all Libyan forces had left Chad, redeploying in the Aouzou Strip.
Libya's prompt retreat took many observers by surprise. Reasons were to be found in Gaddafi's desire to host the OAU's annual conference in 1982 and assume the presidency of the OAU for that year. Another point could be found in Libya's difficult situation in Chad where, without some popular and international acceptance for Libyan presence, it would have been difficult to take the concrete risk of causing a war with Egypt and Sudan, with US support. This does not mean that Gaddafi had renounced the goals he had set for Chad, but that he now had to search for somebody else as Chad's leader, as Goukouni had proved himself unreliable.
ese forces, bringing the IAF to 3,275 men. Before the peace-keeping force was fully deployed, Habré had already taken advantage of Libya's withdrawal, and made massive inroads in eastern Chad, including the important city of Abéché
, that fell on November 19. Next to fall was in early January Oum Hadjer
, at only 100 miles from Ati, the last relevant town before the capital. The GUNT was saved for the moment by the IAF, the only credible military force confronting Habré, that prevented the FAN from taking Ati.
In the light of Habré's offensive, the OAU requested the GUNT to open reconciliation talks with Habré, a demand that was angrily refused by Goukouni; later he was to say:
In May, the FAN started a final offensive, passing unhindered by the peacekeepers
in Ati and Mongo
. Goukouni, increasingly angered with the IAF's refusal to fight Habré, made an attempt to restore his relations with Libya, and reached Tripoli on May 23, but Gaddafi, burned by his experience the previous year, proclaimed his state neutrality in the civil war.
The GUNT forces attempted to make a last stand at Massaguet
, 50 miles north of capital on the Abéché-N'Djamena road, but were defeated by the FAN on June 5 after a hard battle. Two days later Habré entered unopposed in N'Djamena, making him the de facto
source of national government in Chad, while Goukouni fled the country seeking sanctuary in Cameroon
.
Immediately after occupying the capital, Habré proceeded to consolidate his power by occupying the rest of the country. In barely six weeks, he conquered southern Chad, destroying the FAT
, Kamougué's militia, whose hopes for Libyan help failed to materialize. Also the rest of the country was submitted, with the exception of the Tibesti.
, and the CDR was antagonized by Habré's eagerness to unify the country, making him overrun the CDR's domains.
Therefore, it was with Libyan support that Goukouni reassembled the GUNT, creating in October a National Peace Government with its seat in the Tibesti town of Bardaï and claiming itself the legitimate government by the terms of the Lagos Accord
. For the impending fight Goukouni could count on 3,000–4,000 men taken from several militias, later merged in an Armée Nationale de Libération (ANL) under the command of a Southerner, Negue Djogo
.
Before Gaddafi could throw his full weight behind Goukouni, Habré attacked the GUNT in the Tibesti, but was repelled both in December 1982 and in January 1983. The following months saw the clashes intensify in the North, while talks, with even an exchange in March of visits between Tripoli and N'Djamena, broke down. Therefore, on March 17 Habré brought the Chad-Libya quarrel before the United Nations
, asking for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to consider Libya's "aggression and occupation" of Chadian territory.
Gaddafi was ready now for an offensive. The decisive offensive began in June, when a 3,000 strong GUNT force invested Faya-Largeau, the main government stronghold in the North, that fell on June 25, and then rapidly proceeded towards Koro Toro
, Oum Chalouba and Abéché, assuming control of the main routes towards N'Djamena. Libya, while helping with recruiting and training and providing the GUNT with heavy artillery, only committed a few thousand regular troops to the offensive, and most of these were artillery and logistic units. This may have been due to Gaddafi's desire that the conflict should be read as a Chadian internal affair.
The international community
reacted adversely to the Libyan-backed offensive, in particular France and the United States. On the same day as the fall of Faya, the French Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson
warned Libya that France would "not remain indifferent" to a new Libyan involvement in Chad, and on July 11 the French government accused again Libya of direct military support to the rebels. French arms shipments were resumed on June 27, and on July 3 a first contingent of 250 Zairians arrived to strengthen Habré; the United States announced in July military and food aid for 10 million dollars. Gaddafi suffered also a diplomatic setback from the OAU, that at the meeting held in June officially recognized Habré's government and asked for all foreign troops to leave Chad.
Supplied by Americans, Zairians and the French, Habré rapidly reorganized his forces (now called Chadian National Armed Forces
or FANT) and marched north to confront the GUNT and the Libyans, that he met south of Abéché. Habré proved again his ability, crushing Goukouni's forces, and started a vast counteroffensive that enabled him to retake in rapid succession Abéché, Biltine
, Fada and, on July 30, Faya-Largeau, threatening to attack the Tibesti and the Aouzou Strip.
Since the day after the fall of the town, Faya-Largeau was subjected to a sustained air bombardment, using Su-22 and Mirage F-1s from the Aouzou air base, along with Tu-22 bombers from Sabha
. Within ten days, a large ground force had been assembled east and west of Faya-Largeau by first ferrying men, armor, and artillery by air to Sabha, Al Kufrah
, and the Aouzou airfield, and then by shorter range transport planes to the area of conflict. The fresh Libyan forces amounted to 11,000 mostly regular troops, and eighty combat aircraft participated to the offensive; nowithstanding this, the Libyans maintained their traditional role of providing fire support, and occasional tank charges, for the assaults of the GUNT, that could count on 3,000–4,000 men on this occasion.
The GUNT-Libyan alliance invested on August 10 the Faya-Largeau oasis, where Habré had entrenched himself with about 5,000 troops. Battered by multiple rocket launcher
(MRL), artillery and tank fire and continuous airstrikes, the FANT's defensive line disintegrated when the GUNT launched the final assault, leaving 700 FANT troops on the ground. Habré escaped with the remnants of his army to the capital, without being pursued by the Libyans.
This was to prove a tactical blunder, as the new Libyan intervention had alarmed France. Habré issued a fresh plea for French military assistance on August 6. France, also due to American and African pressures, announced on August 6 the return of French troops in Chad as part of Opération Manta
, meant to stop the GUNT-Libyan advance and more generally weaken Gaddafi's influence in the internal affairs of Chad. Three days later several hundred French troops were dispatched to N'Djamena from the Central African Republic
, that were later brought to 2,700, with several squadron of Jaguar
fighter-bombers. This made it the largest expeditionary force ever assembled by the French in Africa, except for the Algerian War of Independence
.
The French government then defined a limit (the so-called Red Line), along the 15th parallel
, extending from Mao
to Abéché, and warned that they would not tolerate any incursion south of this line by Libyan or GUNT forces. Both the Libyans and the French remained on their side of the line, with France showing itself unwilling to help Habré retake the north, while the Libyans avoided starting a conflict with France by attacking the line. This led to a de facto division of the country, with Libya maintaining control of all the territory north of the Red Line.
A lull ensued, during which in November talks sponsored by the OAU failed to conciliate the opposing Chadian factions; no more successful was Ethiopia
's leader Mengistu
's attempt at the beginning of 1984. Mengistu's failure was followed on January 24 by a GUNT attack, supported by heavy Libyan armor, on the FANT outpost of Ziguey, a move mainly meant to persuade France and the African states to reopen negotiations. France reacted to this breach of the Red Line by launching the first significant air counter-attack, bringing into Chad new troops and unilaterally raising the defensive line to the 16th parallel
.
showed himself receptive to the offer, and on September 17 the two leaders publicly announced that the mutual withdrawal would start on September 25, and be completed by November 10. The accord was at first hailed by the media as a proof attesting Mitterrand's diplomatic skills and a decisive progress towards the solution of the Chadian crisis; it also answered Mitterrand's intent of following regards Libya and Chad a foreign policy independent from both the United States
and the Chadian government.
While France respected the deadline, the Libyans limited themselves to retiring some forces, while maintaining at least 3,000 men stationed in Northern Chad. When this became evident, it resulted in a source of considerable embarrassment for the French and the occasion of recriminations between the French and Chadian governments.
On November 16 Mitterrand met with Gaddafi on Crete
, under the auspices of
the Greek prime minister Papandreou
. Despite Gaddafi's declaration
that all Libyan forces had been withdrawn, the next day Mitterrand admitted that this was
not true but did not order French troops back to Chad.
According to Nolutshungu
, the 1984 bilateral Franco-Libyan agreement may have provided Gaddafi with an excellent opportunity to find an exit from the Chadian quagmire, while bolstering his international prestige and posing him in a condition to force Habré into accepting a peace accord which would have included Libya's proxies. Instead, Gaddafi misread France's withdrawal as a willingness to accept Libya's military presence in Chad and the de facto annexation of the whole BET Prefecture by Libya, an action that was certain to meet the opposition of all Chadian factions and of the OAU and the UN. Gaddafi's blunder would eventually bring about his defeat, with the rebellion against him of the GUNT and a new French expedition in 1986.
In this period, Gaddafi expanded his control over northern Chad, building new roads and erecting a major new airbase, Ouadi Doum, meant to better support air and ground operations beyond the Aouzou Strip, and brought in considerable reinforcements in 1985, rising their forces in the country to 7,000 troops, 300 tanks and 60 combat aircraft. While this build-up took place, significant elements of the GUNT passed over to the Habré government, as part of the latter's policy of accommodation.
These desertions alarmed Gaddafi, as the GUNT provided a cover of legitimacy to Libya's presence in Chad. To put a halt to these and reunite the GUNT, a major offensive was launched on the Red Line, whose ultimate goal was N'Djamena itsef. The attack, started on February 10, involved 5,000 Libyan and 5,000 GUNT troops, and concentrated on the FANT outposts of Kouba Olanga, Kalait and Oum Chalouba. The campaign ended in disaster for Gaddafi, when a FANT counteroffensive on February 13 using the new equipment obtained from the French forced the attackers to withdraw and reorganize.
Most important was French reaction to the attack. Gaddafi had possibly believed that, due to the upcoming French legislative elections
, Mitterrand would have been reluctant to start a new risky and costly expedition to save Habré; this evaluation proved wrong, as what the French President could not politically risk was to show weakness towards Libyan aggression. As a result, on 14 February Opération Epervier was started, bringing 1,200 French troops and several squadrons of Jaguars in Chad. On 16th Feb, to send a clear message to Gaddafi, the French Air Force
bombed Libya's Ouadi Doum airbase. Libya retaliated the next day when a Libyan Tupolev Tu-22
bombed the N'Djamena Airport
causing minimal damage.
To reestablish their supply lines and retake the towns of Bardaï, Zouar and Wour
, the Libyans sent a task-force of 2,000 troops with T-62
tanks and heavy support by the Libyan Air Force
into Tibesti. The offensive started successfully, expelling the GUNT from its key strongholds, also through the use of napalm
and, allegedly, poison gas. This attack ultimately backfired, causing the prompt reaction of Habré, who sent 2,000 FANT soldiers to link with the GUNT forces. Also Mitterrand reacted forcefully, ordering a mission which parachuted fuel, food, ammunition and anti-tank missiles to the rebels, and also infiltrated military personnel. Through this action, the French made clear that they no longer felt committed to keep south of the Red Line, and were ready to act whenever they found it necessary.
While militarily Habré was only partly successful in his attempt to evict the Libyans from the Tibesti (the Libyans would fully leave the region in March, when a series of defeats in the north-east had made the area untenable), the campaign was a great strategic breakthrough for the FANT, as it transformed a civil war into a national war against a foreign invader, stimulating a sense of national unity that had never been seen before in Chad.
anti-tank guided missile
s, that gave the name of "Toyota War" to the last phase of the Chadian–Libyan conflict.
Habré started, on January 2, 1987, his reconquest of northern Chad with a successful attack
of the well-defended Libyan communications base of Fada. Against the Libyan army the Chadian commander Hassan Djamous
conducted a series of swift pincer movements, enveloping the Libyan positions and crushing them with sudden attacks from all sides. This strategy was repeated by Djamous in March in the battles of B'ir Kora and Ouadi Doum, inflicting crushing losses and forcing Gaddafi to evacuate northern Chad.
This in turn endangered Libyan control over the Aouzou Strip, and Aouzou fell in August to the FANT, only to be repelled by an overwhelming Libyan counter-offensive and the French refusal to provide air cover to the Chadians. Habré readily replied to this setback with the first Chadian incursion in Libyan territory of the Chadian–Libyan conflict, mounting on September 5 a surprise and fully successful raid against the key Libyan air base at Maaten al-Sarra
. This attack was part of a plan to remove the threat of Libyan airpower before a renewed offensive on Aouzou.
The projected attack on Aouzou never took place, as the dimensions of the victory obtained at Maaten made France fear that the attack on the Libyan Base
was only the first stage of a general offensive into Libya proper, a possibility that France was not willing to tolerate. As for Gaddafi, being subjected to internal and international pressures, he showed himself more conciliatory, which brought as a result to an OAU-brokered ceasefire on September 11.
Steadily, relations among the two countries improved, with Gaddafi giving signs that he wanted to normalize relations with the Chadian government, to the point of recognizing that the war had been an error. In May 1988 the Libyan leader declared he would recognize Habré as the legitimate president of Chad "as a gift to Africa"; this led on October 3 to the resumption of full diplomatic relations between the two countries. The following year, on August 31, 1989, Chadian and Libyan representatives met in Algiers
to negotiate the Framework Agreement on the Peaceful Settlement of the Territorial Dispute, by which Gaddafi agreed to discuss with Habré the Aouzou Strip and to bring the issue to the International Court of Justice
(ICJ) for a binding ruling if bilateral talks failed. Therefore, after a year of inconclusive talks, the sides submitted in September 1990 the dispute to the ICJ.
Chadian-Libyan relations were further ameliorated when Libyan-supported Idriss Déby
unseated Habré on December 2. Gaddafi was the first head of state to recognize the new regime, and he also signed treaties of friendship and cooperation on various levels; but regarding the Aouzou Strip Déby followed his predecessor, declaring that if necessary he would fight to keep the strip out of Libya's hands.
The Aouzou dispute was concluded for good on February 3, 1994, when the judges of the ICJ by a majority of 16 to 1 decided
that the Aouzou Strip belonged to Chad. The court's judgement was implemented without delay, the two parties signing as early as April 4 an agreement concerning the practical modalities for the implementation of the judgement. Monitored by international observers, the withdrawal of Libyan troops from the Strip began on April 15 and was completed by May 10. The formal and final transfer of the Strip from Libya to Chad took place on May 30, when the sides signed a joint declaration stating that the Libyan withdrawal had been effected.
. Forced to accede to a ceasefire, the defeat ended his expansionist projects toward Chad and his dreams of African and Arab dominance.
Given the French intervention on behalf of Chad and U.S. supply of satellite intelligence
to FANT during the battle of Maaten al-Sarra, Gaddafi blamed Libya's defeat on French and U.S. "aggression against Libya". The U.S. did not conceal its satisfaction over the Libyan defeat with an official stating that "We basically jump for joy every time the Chadians ding the Libyans". The result was Gaddafi's lingering animosity against the two countries which led to Libyan support for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
over Lockerbie
, Scotland
on 21 December 1988, and the bombing of UTA Flight 772
on 19 September 1989.
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
between 1978 and 1987 between Libya
Libya
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....
n and Chadian forces. Libya had been involved in Chad's internal affairs prior to 1978 and before 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...
's rise to power in Libya in 1969, beginning with the extension of the Chadian Civil War to northern Chad in 1968. The conflict was marked by a series of four separate Libyan interventions in Chad, taking place in 1978, 1979, 1980–1981 and 1983–1987. In all of these occasions Gaddafi had the support of a number of factions participating in the civil war, while Libya's opponents found the support of the French government, which intervened militarily to save the Chadian government in 1978, 1983 and 1986.
The military pattern of the war delineated itself in 1978, with the Libyans providing armour, artillery and air support and their Chadian allies the infantry, that assumed the bulk of the scouting and fighting. This pattern was radically changed in 1986, towards the end of the war, when all Chadian forces united in opposing the Libyan occupation of northern Chad with a degree of unity that had never been seen before in Chad. This deprived the Libyan forces of their habitual infantry, exactly when they found themselves confronting a mobile army, well provided now with anti-tank and anti-air missiles, thus cancelling the Libyan superiority in fire-power. What followed was the Toyota War
Toyota War
The Toyota War is the name commonly given to the last phase of the Chadian–Libyan conflict, which took place in 1987 in Northern Chad and on the Libyan-Chadian border. It takes its name from the Toyota pickup trucks used as technicals to provide mobility for the Chadian troops as they fought...
, in which the Libyan forces were routed and expelled from Chad, putting an end to the conflict.
Regarding the reasons behind Gaddafi's involvement with Chad, the initial reason stood in his ambition to annex the Aouzou Strip, the northernmost part of Chad that he claimed as part of Libya on the grounds of an unratified treaty of the colonial period. In 1972 his goals became, in the evaluation of historian Mario Azevedo, the creation of a client state in Libya's "underbelly", an Islamic republic modelled after his jamahiriya
Jamahiriya
Jamahiriya may refer to:* a concept in the Political philosophy of Muammar Gaddafi* the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya ruled by Gaddafi * a Savage Republic album, see Jamahiriya Democratique et Populaire de Sauvage-See also:...
, that would maintain close ties with Libya, and secure his control over the Aouzou Strip; expulsion of the French from the region, and use of Chad as a base to expand his influence in Central Africa
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
.
Occupation of the Aouzou Strip
Libyan involvement with Chad can be said to have started in 1968, during the Chadian Civil WarCivil war in Chad (1965–1979)
The First Chadian Civil War started in 1965/66, with riots and insurgency against Chadian president François Tombalbaye's rule, known for its authoritarianism and distrust of democracy.-Precedents:...
, when the insurgent Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT
FROLINAT
-Origins:The organization was born as the result of a political union between the leftist Chadian National Union , led by Ibrahim Abatcha, and the General Union of the Children of Chad which was led by Ahmed Hassan Musa. Musa was close to the Muslim Brotherhood and was an Islamist...
) extended its guerrilla war against the Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
President
Heads of state of Chad
-List of Heads of State of Chad:-Affiliations:-External links:**...
François Tombalbaye
François Tombalbaye
François Tombalbaye, also called Ngarta Tombalbaye , was a teacher and a trade union activist who served as the first president of Chad. He was born in the southern region of the country in the Moyen-Chari Prefecture near the city of Koumara and was of the Sara ethnic group, the prominent ethnicity...
to the northerly Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture (BET). Libya's king Idris I felt compelled to support the FROLINAT because of long-standing strong links between the two sides of the Chadian-Libyan border. To preserve relations with Chad's former colonial master and current protector, 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...
, Idris limited himself to granting the rebels sanctuary in Libyan territory and to providing only non-lethal supplies.
All this changed with the Libyan coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
of 1 September 1969 that deposed Idris and brought 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...
to power. Gaddafi claimed the Aouzou Strip in northern Chad, referring to an unratified treaty signed in 1935 by Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and 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...
, (then the colonial powers of Libya and Chad, respectively). Such claims had been previously made when in 1954 Idris had tried to occupy Aouzou, but his troops were repelled by the French Colonial Forces
French Colonial Forces
The French Colonial Forces , commonly called La Coloniale, was a general designation for the military forces that garrisoned in the French colonial empire from the late 17th century until 1960. They were recruited from mainland France or from the French settler and indigenous populations of the...
.
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
nations, particularly East Germany
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
, trained and armed the insurgents, and provided them with weapons and funding. On August 27, 1971 Chad accused Egypt and Libya of backing a coup against then president Tombalbaye by recently amnestied Chadians.
On the same day of the failed coup, Tombalbaye cut all diplomatic relations with Libya and Egypt, and invited all Libyan opposition groups to base themselves in Chad, and started laying claims to Fezzan
Fezzan
Fezzan is a south western region of modern Libya. It is largely desert but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys in the north, where oases enable ancient towns and villages to survive deep in the otherwise inhospitable Sahara.-Name:...
on the grounds of "historical rights". Gaddafi's answer was to officially recognize on 17 September the FROLINAT as the sole legitimate government of Chad, while in October the Chadian Foreign Minister Baba Hassan denounced at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Libya's "expansionist ideas".
Through French pressure on Libya, and with Hamani Diori
Hamani Diori
Hamani Diori was the first President of the Republic of Niger. He was appointed to that office in 1960, when Niger gained independence.- Youth :...
the President
Heads of state of Niger
-List of Heads of State of Niger:-Affiliations:-See also:*Niger*List of colonial heads of Niger*Heads of Government of Niger*Lists of Incumbents-References:*...
of Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
playing the role of mediator, the two countries resumed diplomatic relations on 17 April 1972. Shortly after, Tombalbaye broke diplomatic relations with Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and is said to have secretly accepted on 28 November to cede the Aouzou Strip to Libya; in exchange Gaddafi pledged 40 million pounds to the Chadian President and the two countries signed in December a Treaty of Friendship. Gaddafi withdrew official support to the FROLINAT and forced its leader Abba Siddick
Abba Siddick
Abba Siddick is a Muslim Chadian politician and revolutionary born in what was the Oubangui-Chari French colony . In passing in Chad , he entered in active politics in the Chadian Progressive Party , a nationalist and radical African political party founded in 1947 and led by Gabriel Lisette...
to move his headquarters from Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
to Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
. Good relations were confirmed in the following years, with Gaddafi visiting the Chadian capital N'Djamena
N'Djamena
N'Djamena is the capital and largest city of Chad. A port on the Chari River, near the confluence with the Logone River, it directly faces the Cameroonian town of Kousséri, to which the city is connected by a bridge. It is also a special statute region, divided in 10 arrondissements. It is a...
in March 1974, and in the same month a joint bank was created to provide Chad with investment funds.
Six months after the signature of the 1972 treaty, Libyan troops moved into the Strip and established just north of Aouzou an airbase protected by surface-to-air missiles. A civil administration was set up, attached to Kufra
Kufra
Kufra is a basin and oasis group in Al Kufrah District, southeastern Cyrenaica in Libya. Kufra is historically important above all because at the end of nineteenth century it became the center and holy place of the Senussi order...
, and Libyan citizenship was extended to the few thousand inhabitants of the area. From that moment, Libyan maps represented the area as part of Libya.
The exact terms by which Libya gained Aouzou remain partly obscure, and are debated. The existence of a secret agreement between Tombalbaye and Gaddafi was revealed only in 1988, when the Libyan President exhibited an alleged copy of a letter in which Tombalbaye recognizes Libyan claims. Against this, scholars like Bernard Lanne have argued that there never was any sort of formal agreement, and that simply Tombalbaye had found expedient for himself not to make mention of the occupation of a part of his country. Also, Libya was unable to exhibit the original copy of the agreement when the case of the Aouzou Strip was brought in 1993 before the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
.
Expansion of the insurgency
The rapproachment was not to last long, as on 13 April, 1975 a coup d'étatCoup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
removed Tombalbaye
Chadian coup of 1975
The Chadian coup of 1975 was in considerable part generated by the growing distrust of the President of Chad, François Tombalbaye, for the army. This distrust came in part from the Chadian Armed Forces incapacity to deal with the rebellion that was inflaming the Muslim north from when the rebel...
and replaced him with General Felix Malloum
Félix Malloum
General Félix Malloum or Félix Malloum Ngakoutou Bey-Ndi was a Chadian politician from the south. He served as an officer in the Chadian Military and as a member of the ruling Chadian Progressive Party . He later became the Chief of Staff with the rank of colonel...
. As opposition to Tombalbaye's policy of appeasement towards Libya was among the reasons behind the coup, Gaddafi felt the coup as a menace to his influence in Chad and resumed supplying the FROLINAT.
In April 1976, there was a Gaddafi-backed attempted assassination of Malloum, and in the same year Libyan troops started making forays into central Chad in company of FROLINAT forces.
Libyan activism began generating concerns in the strongest faction into which the FROLINAT had split, the Command Council of the Armed Forces of the North
Command Council of the Armed Forces of the North
The Command Council of the Armed Forces of the North was a Chadian rebel army active during the Chadian Civil War. Originally called Second Liberation Army of National Liberation Front of Chad , and was one of the original groups in rebellion against the regime of François Tombalbaye...
(CCFAN). On the issue of the interested nature of Libyan support the insurgents split in October 1976, with a minority leaving the militia and forming the Armed Forces of the North
Armed Forces of the North
The Armed Forces of the North was a Chadian rebel army active during the Chadian Civil War. Composed of FROLINAT units that remained loyal to Hissène Habré following his break from Goukouni Oueddei and the CCFAN in 1976...
(FAN), led by the anti-Libyan Hissène Habré
Hissène Habré
Hissène Habré , also spelled Hissen Habré, was the leader of Chad from 1982 until he was deposed in 1990.-Early life:...
, while the majority, willing to accept an alliance with Gaddafi, was commanded by Goukouni Oueddei
Goukouni Oueddei
Goukouni Oueddei is a Chadian political figure. He was Head of State of Chad from 1979 to 1982. He is currently in exile.-Biography:...
. The latter group was to shortly after rename itself People's Armed Forces
People's Armed Forces
The People's Armed Forces was a Chadian insurgent group composed of followers of Goukouni Oueddei after the schism with Hissène Habré in 1976...
(FAP).
In those years, Gaddafi's support had been mostly moral, with only a limited supply of weapons. All this started changing in February 1977, when the Libyans provided Goukouni's men with hundreds of AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
assault rifle
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
s, dozens of bazooka
Bazooka
Bazooka is the common name for a man-portable recoilless rocket antitank weapon, widely fielded by the U.S. Army. Also referred to as the "Stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was amongst the first-generation of rocket propelled anti-tank weapons used in infantry combat...
s, 81 and 82mm mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
s and recoil
Recoil
Recoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...
less cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
s. Armed with these weapons, the FAP attacked in June the Chadian Armed Forces
Chadian Armed Forces
The Chadian Armed Forces were the army of the central government of Chad from 1960 to 1979, under the southern presidents François Tombalbaye and Félix Malloum, until the downfall of the latter in 1979, when the head of the gendarmerie, Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué, assumed command...
' (FAT) strongholds of Bardaï
Bardai, Chad
Bardaï is a small town and oasis in the extreme north of Chad. It is the main town of the Tibesti Region, which was formed in 2008 from the Tibesti Department of the former Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region....
and Zouar
Zouar, Chad
Zouar is a town in the Tibesti Department in the BET Region in northern Chad, in an oasis in the Tibesti Mountains. The town has an airport with an unpaved runway....
in Tibesti and of Ounianga Kebir in Borkou. Goukouni assumed with this attack full control of the Tibesti, because Bardaï, besieged since 22 June, surrendered on 4 July, while Zouar was evacuated. The FAT lost 300 men, and piles of military supplies fell into the hands of the rebels. Ounianga was attacked on June 20, but was saved for the time being by the French military advisors present there.
This year, as it had become evident that the Aouzou Strip was being used by Libya as a base for deeper involvement in Chad, Malloum decided to bring the issue of the Strip's occupation before the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and the Organisation of African Unity. Malloum also decided he needed new allies; because of this, he negotiated a formal alliance with Habré, the Khartoum Accord, in September. This accord was kept secret until 22 January, when a Fundamental Charter was signed, following which a National Union Government was formed on 29 August 1978 with Habré as Prime Minister. The Malloum-Habré accord was actively promoted by Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, both of which feared a radical Chad controlled by Gaddafi and saw in Habré, with his good Muslim and anti-colonialialist credentials, the only chance to thwart Gaddafi's plans.
Libyan escalation
The Malloum-Habré accord was perceived by Gaddafi as a serious threat to his influence in Chad, and he increased the level of Libyan involvement. For the first time with the active participation of Libyan ground units, Goukouni's FAP unleashed on 29 January 1978 the Ibrahim Abatcha offensive against the last outposts held by the government in northern Chad, namely Faya-LargeauFaya-Largeau
Located in the Sahara, Faya's climate is classed as hot desert on the Köppen climate classification. It experiences hot winters and very hot summers with the peak average maximum temperature reaching in May and the average minimum reaching its lowest in January at . Rainfall averages out at about...
, Fada and Ounianga Kebir. The attacks were successful, and Goukouni and the Libyans assumed control of the BET Prefecture.
The decisive confrontation between the Libyan-FAP forces and the Chadian regular forces took place at Faya-Largeau, the capital of the BET. The city, defended by 5,000 Chadian soldiers, fell on 18 February after sharp fighting to 2,500 rebels, supported by possibly as many as 4,000 Libyan troops. The Libyans do not seem to have directly participated in the fighting; in a pattern that was to repeat itself in the future, the Libyans provided armor, artillery and air support. The rebels also were much better armed than before, displaying Strela 2
Strela 2
The 9K32 “Strela-2” is a man-portable, shoulder-fired, low-altitude surface-to-air missile system with a high explosive warhead and passive infrared homing guidance...
surface-to-air missile
Surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
s.
Goukouni had made about 2,500 prisoners with these successes and those in 1977; as a result, the Chadian Armed Forces had lost at least 20% of its manpower, and in particular the Nomad and National Guard
Nomad and National Guard
The National and Nomadic Guard of Chad is one of four defence and security forces in Chad....
(GNN) was decimated by the fall of Fada and Faya. Goukouni used these victories to strengthen his position in the FROLINAT: during a Libyan-sponsored congress held in March in Faya, the insurgency's main factions reunited themselves and nominated Goukouni new secretary-general of the FROLINAT.
Malloum's reaction to the Goukouni–Gaddafi offensive was to sever diplomatic relations with Libya on 6 February and bring before the United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
the issue of Libyan involvement in the fighting, as well as raising again the question of Libya's occupation of the Aouzou Strip; but on 19 February, after the fall of Faya, Malloum was forced to accept a ceasefire
Ceasefire
A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces...
and withdraw the protest. The ceasefire was reached also because Libya had halted the advance of Goukouni, because of pressure from France, then an important weapon supplier of the Arab country.
Malloum and Gaddafi restored diplomatic relations on 24 February at Sabha in Libya, where an international peace conference was held which included as mediators Niger's President Seyni Kountché
Seyni Kountché
Seyni Kountché was a Nigerien military officer who led a 1974 coup d'état that deposed the government of Niger's first president, Hamani Diori. He ruled the country as military head of state from 1974 to 1987...
and Sudan's Vice-President. Under severe pressure from France, Sudan and Zaire, Malloum was forced to sign on March 27 the Benghazi Accord, which recognized the FROLINAT and agreed on a new ceasefire. Among the chief conditions of the agreement was creation of a joint Libya–Niger military committee, that was tasked with implementing the agreement; through this committee, Chad legitimized Libyan intervention in its territory. The accord also contained another condition dear to Libya, as it asked for the termination of all French military presence in Chad. The stillborn accord was for Gaddafi nothing more than a strategy to strengthen his protégé Goukouni; it also weakened considerably Malloum's prestige among southern Chadians, who saw his concessions as a proof of his weak leadership.
On 15 April, only a few days after signing the ceasefire, Goukouni left Faya, leaving there a Libyan garrison of 800 men. Relying on Libyan armor and airpower, Goukouni's forces conquered a small FAT garrison and pointed towards the capital N'Djamena
N'Djamena
N'Djamena is the capital and largest city of Chad. A port on the Chari River, near the confluence with the Logone River, it directly faces the Cameroonian town of Kousséri, to which the city is connected by a bridge. It is also a special statute region, divided in 10 arrondissements. It is a...
.
Against these stood freshly arrived French forces. Already in 1977, after Goukouni's first offensives, Malloum had asked for a French military return in Chad, but President
President of the French Republic
The President of the French Republic colloquially referred to in English as the President of France, is France's elected Head of State....
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...
was at first reluctant to commit himself before the carrying out of the legislative elections
French legislative election, 1978
The French legislative elections took place on 12 March and 19 March 1978 to elect the 6th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic.On 2 April 1974 President Georges Pompidou died. The non-Gaullist center-right leader Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was elected to succeed him...
, held in March 1978; also, France was afraid of damaging its profitable commercial and diplomatic relations with Libya. At the end, the rapid deterioration of the situation in Chad resolved the President on February 20, 1978 to start Opération Tacaud
Opération Tacaud
Opération Tacaud was a French military operation in Chad, that took place between 20 February 1978 and May 1980. Its aim was to support the Chadian army in protecting N'Djamena from the FROLINAT.- History :...
, that by April brought in Chad 2,500 troops to secure the capital from the rebels.
The decisive battle took place at Ati
Ati, Chad
Ati is a city in Chad, the capital of the region of Batha. It lies 278 miles by road east of the capital N'Djamena. The town is served by Ati Airport....
, a town 270 miles northeast of N'Djamena. The town's garrison of 1,500 soldiers was attacked on May 19 by the FROLINAT insurgents, equipped with artillery and modern weapons. The garrison was relieved by the arrival supported by armor of a Chadian task force and, more importantly, of the Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
and the 3rd Regiment of Marine Infantry; in a two-day battle, the FROLINAT was repelled with heavy losses, a victory that was confirmed in June by another engagement at Djedaa, after which the FROLINAT admitted defeat and fled north, after having lost 2,000 men and left the "ultramodern equipment" they carried on the ground. Of key importance in these battles was the complete air superiority the French could count on, as the Libyan Air Force pilots refused to fight the French.
Libyan difficulties
Only a few months after the failed offensive against the capital, major dissensions in the FROLINAT shattered all vestiges of unity and badly weakened Libyan power in Chad. On the night of August 27 Ahmat Acyl, leader of the Volcan ArmyVolcan Army
The Volcan Army was a Chadian insurgent rebel group that was active during the Chadian Civil War. The movement was founded in 1970 by the Arab insurgent leader Mohamed Baghlani, who had been expelled in June from the FROLINAT by the organization's secretary-general Abba Siddick...
, attacked Faya-Largeau with the support of Libyan troops in what was apparently an attempt by Gaddafi to remove Goukouni from the leadership of the FROLINAT, replacing him with Acyl. The attempt backfired, as Goukouni reacted by expelling all Libyan military advisors present in Chad, and started searching for a compromise with France.
The reasons for the clash between Gaddafi and Goukouni were both ethnic and political. The FROLINAT was divided between Arabs, like Acyl, and Toubou
Toubou
The Tubu are an ethnic group that live mainly in northern Chad, but also in Libya, Niger and Sudan....
s, like Goukouni and Habré. These ethnic divisions also reflected a different attitude towards Gaddafi and his Green Book. In particular, Goukouni and his men had shown themselves reluctant to follow Gaddafi's solicitations to make The Green Book the official policy of the FROLINAT, and had first tried to take time, leaving the question to the complete reunification of the movement. When the unification was accomplished, and Gaddafi pressed again for the adoption of The Green Book, the dissensions in the Revolution's Council became manifest, with many proclaiming their loyalty to the movement's original platform approved in 1966 when Ibrahim Abatcha
Ibrahim Abatcha
Ibrahim Abatcha was a Muslim Chadian politician reputed of Marxist leanings and associations. His political activity started during the decolonization process of Chad from France, but after the country's independence he was forced to go in exile due to the increasing authoritarism of the country's...
was made first secretary-general, while others, among whom Acyl, fully embraced the Colonel's ideas.
In N'Djamena, the contemporary presence of two armies, the FAN of the Prime Minister Habré and the FAT of the President Malloum, prepared the stage for the battle of N'Djamena, which was to bring about the collapse of the State and the ascent to power of the Northern elite. A minor incident escalated on February 12, 1979 into heavy fighting between Habré and Malloum's forces, and the battle intensified on February 19 when Goukouni's men entered in the capital to fight alongside Habré against the FAT. It is estimated that by March 16, when the first international peace conference took place, 2,000–5,000 people were killed and 60,000–70,000 forced to flee the capital, and the greatly diminished Chadian army left the capital in the rebels' hand and reorganized itself in the south under the leadership of Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué
Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué
Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué was a Chadian politician and former army officer. Kamougué was a leading figure in the 1975 coup d'état and since then he has held several positions in the Chadian government and legislature. He was Vice-President from 1979 to 1982 and was President of the National...
. During the battle, the French garrison stood passively by, even helping Habré in certain circumstances, as when they demanded the Chad Air Force
Chad Air Force
The Chadian Air Force, in French Force Aérienne Tchadienne, was formed in 1961 as the Escadrille Nationale Tchadienne , and was given its current name in 1973...
to stop its bombings.
An international peace conference was held in Kano
Kano
Kano is a city in Nigeria and the capital of Kano State in Northern Nigeria. Its metropolitan population is the second largest in Nigeria after Lagos. The Kano Urban area covers 137 sq.km and comprises six Local Government Area - Kano Municipal, Fagge, Dala, Gwale, Tarauni and Nassarawa - with a...
in Nigeria, to which Chad's bordering states participated with Malloum for the Chadian army, Habré for the FAN and Goukouni for the FAP. The Kano Accord
Kano Accord
The Kano Accord was preceded by the collapse of central authority in Chad in 1979, when the Prime Minister Hissène Habré had unleashed on February 12 his militias against the capital N'Djamena and the president Félix Malloum...
was signed on March 16 by all those present, and Malloum resigned, replaced by a Council of State under the chairmanship of Goukouni. This was a result of Nigerian and French pressures on Goukouni and Habré to share power; the French in particular saw this as part of their strategy to cut all ties between Goukouni and Gaddafi. A few weeks later, the same factions formed the Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT), kept together to a considerable extent by the common desire to see Libya out of Chad.
Despite signing the Kano Accord, Libya was incensed that the GUNT did not include any of the leaders of the Volcan Army and had not recognized Libyan claims on the Aouzou Strip. Already since 13 April there had been some minor Libyan military activity in northern Chad, and support was provided to the secessionist movement in the south, but a major response came only after June 25, when the ultimatum for the formation of a new, more inclusive, coalition government posed by Chad's bordering states to the GUNT expired. On June 26, 2,500 Libyan troops invaded Chad directed to Faya-Largeau. The Chadian government appealed for French help. The Libyan forces were first stymied by Goukouni's militiamen, and then forced to retreat by French reconnaissance planes and bombers. In the same month, the factions excluded by the GUNT founded a counter-government, the Front for Joint Provisional Action (FACP), in northern Chad with Libyan military support.
The fighting with Libya, the imposition by Nigeria of an economic boycott and international pressure brought to a new international peace conference in Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
in August, to which all eleven factions present in Chad participated. A new accord
Lagos Accord
The Lagos Accord was a peace agreement signed on August 21, 1979 by representatives of eleven warring factions of the Chadian Civil War, after a conference in Lagos, Nigeria. The accord established the procedures for setting up the Transitional Government of National Unity , which was sworn into...
was signed on August 21, under which a new GUNT was to be formed, open to all factions. The French troops were to leave Chad, and be replaced by a multinational African peace force. The new GUNT took office in November, with Goukouni President, Kamougué Vice-President, Habré Defence Minister and Acyl Foreign Minister. Despite the presence of Habré, the new composition of the GUNT had enough pro-Libyans to satisfy Gaddafi.
Libyan intervention
It became clear from the start that Habré isolated himself from the other members of the GUNT, which he treated with disdain. Habré's hostility for Libya's influence in Chad united itself with his ambition and ruthlessness: observers concluded that the warlord would never be content with anything short of the highest office. In such a context it was thought that sooner or later an armed confrontation between Habré and the pro-Libyan factions would take place, and more importantly, between Habré and Goukouni.As expected, clashes in the capital between Habré's FAN and pro-Libyan groups became progressively more serious; in the end, on March 22, 1980 a minor incident, like in 1979 with the first, triggered the second battle of N'Djamena. In ten days, the clashes between the FAN and Goukouni's FAP, who both had 1,000–1,500 troops in the city, had caused thousands of casualties and the flight of about half the capital's population. The few remaining French troops, who left on May 4, proclaimed themselves neutral, as did the Zairian
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
peace force.
While the FAN was supplied economically and militarily by Sudan and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Goukouni received shortly after the beginning of the battle the armed support of Kamougué's FAT and Acyl's CDR, and was provided with Libyan artillery. On June 6, the FAN assumed control of the city of Faya; this alarmed Goukouni, and he signed, on June 15, a Treaty of Friendship with Libya. The treaty gave Libya a free hand in Chad, legitimising its presence in that country: this was especially evident in the first article of the treaty, where it was written that the two countries were committed to mutual defence, and a threat against one constituted a threat against the other.
Beginning in October, Libyan troops airlifted to the Aouzou Strip operated in conjunction with Goukouni's forces to reoccupy Faya. The city was then used as an assembly point for tanks, artillery and armored vehicles that moved south against the capital of N'Djamena.
An attack started on December 6, spearheaded by Soviet T-54 and T-55
T-55
The T-54 and T-55 tanks were a series of main battle tanks designed in the Soviet Union. The first T-54 prototype appeared in March 1945, just before the end of the Second World War. The T-54 entered full production in 1947 and became the main tank for armored units of the Soviet Army, armies of...
tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
s and reportedly coordinated by advisors from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
, brought the fall of the capital on December 16. The Libyan force, numbering between 7,000 and 9,000 men of regular units and the paramilitary Pan-African Islamic Legion
Islamic Legion
The Islamic Legion was a Libyan-sponsored pan-Arab paramilitary force, created in 1972...
, 60 tanks, and other armored vehicles, had been ferried across 1,100 kilometers of desert from Libya's southern border, partly by airlift and tank transporters and partly under their own power. The border itself was 1,000 to 1,100 kilometers from Libya's main bases on the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
coast. The Libyan intervention demonstrated an impressive logistical ability, and provided Gaddafi with his first military victory and a substantial political achievement.
While forced into exile and with his forces confined to the frontier zones of Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
, Habré remained defiant: on December 31 he announced in Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
he would resume fighting as a guerrilla against the GUNT.
Libyan withdrawal
On January 6, 1981, a joint comuniqué was issued in Tripoli by Gaddafi and Goukouni that Libya and Chad had decided "to work to achieve full unity between the two countries". The merger plan caused strong adverse reaction in Africa, and was immediately condemned by FranceFrance
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...
, that on January 11 offered to strengthen French garrisons in friendly African states and on January 15 placed the French Mediterranean fleet on alert. Libya answered by threatening to impose an oil embargo, while France threatened to react if Libya attacked another bordering country. The accord was also opposed by all GUNT ministers present with Goukouni at Tripoli, with the exception of Acyl.
Most observers believe that the reasons behind Goukouni's accepting the accord may be found in a mix of threats, intense pressure and the financial help promised by Gaddafi. Also, just before his visit to the Libyan capital, Goukouni had sent two of his commanders to Libya for consultations; at Tripoli, Goukouni learned from Gaddafi that they had been assassinated by "Libyan dissidents", and that if he didn't want to risk losing Libyan favour and lose power, he should accept the merger plan.
The importance of the opposition they met caused Gaddafi and Goukouni to downplay the importance of the communiqué, speaking of a "union" of peoples, and not of states, and as a "first step" towards closer collaboration. But the damage had been done, and the joint communiqué badly weakened Goukouni's prestige as a nationalist and a statesman.
Increasing international pressure against Libyan presence in Chad were at first met by Goukouni's statement that the Libyans were present in Chad because requested by the government, and that international mediators should simply accept the decision of Chad's legitimate government. In a meeting held in May Goukouni had become more accommodating, declaring that while the Libyan forces withdrawal was not a priority, he would accept the decisions of the OAU. Goukouni could hardly at the time renounce Libyan military support, necessary for dealing with Habré's FAN, which was supported by Egypt and Sudan and funded through Egypt by the United States Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
.
In the meantime, relations between Goukouni and Gaddafi started deteriorating. Libyan troops were stationed in various points of northern and central Chad, in numbers that had reached by January–February about 14,000 troops. The Libyan forces in the country created considerable annoyance in the GUNT, by supporting Acyl's faction in its disputes with the other militias, including the clashes held in late April with Goukouni's FAP. There were also attempts to Libyanize the local population, that made many conclude that "unification" for Libya meant Arabization and the imposition of Libyan political culture, in particular of The Green Book.
Amid fighting in October between Gaddafi's Islamic Legionnaires and Goukouni's troops, and rumors that Acyl was planning a coup d'état to assume the leadership of the GUNT, Goukouni demanded on October 29 the complete and unequivocal withdrawal of Libyan forces from Chadian territory, which, beginning with the capital, was to be completed by December 31. The Libyans were to be replaced by an Organization for African Unity (OAU) Inter-African Force (IAF). Gaddafi complied, and by November 16 all Libyan forces had left Chad, redeploying in the Aouzou Strip.
Libya's prompt retreat took many observers by surprise. Reasons were to be found in Gaddafi's desire to host the OAU's annual conference in 1982 and assume the presidency of the OAU for that year. Another point could be found in Libya's difficult situation in Chad where, without some popular and international acceptance for Libyan presence, it would have been difficult to take the concrete risk of causing a war with Egypt and Sudan, with US support. This does not mean that Gaddafi had renounced the goals he had set for Chad, but that he now had to search for somebody else as Chad's leader, as Goukouni had proved himself unreliable.
Habré takes N'Djamena
The first IAF component to arrive in Chad were the Zairian paratroopers; they were followed by Nigerian and SenegalSenegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
ese forces, bringing the IAF to 3,275 men. Before the peace-keeping force was fully deployed, Habré had already taken advantage of Libya's withdrawal, and made massive inroads in eastern Chad, including the important city of Abéché
Abéché
-Demographics:Demographic evolution:-References:...
, that fell on November 19. Next to fall was in early January Oum Hadjer
Oum Hadjer
Oum Hadjer is a small city in Chad, and the capital of Batha Est Department. It straddles the ephemeral Batha River, lies on the main road between Khartoum and N'Djamena, and has a small airport, . Strategically located, it has been contested by government and rebel forces in 1982, 1990, and...
, at only 100 miles from Ati, the last relevant town before the capital. The GUNT was saved for the moment by the IAF, the only credible military force confronting Habré, that prevented the FAN from taking Ati.
In the light of Habré's offensive, the OAU requested the GUNT to open reconciliation talks with Habré, a demand that was angrily refused by Goukouni; later he was to say:
"The OAU has deceived us. Our security was fully ensured by Libyan troops. The OAU put pressure on us to expel the Libyans. Now that they have gone, the organization has abandoned us while imposing on us a negotiated settlement with Hissein Habre"
In May, the FAN started a final offensive, passing unhindered by the peacekeepers
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....
in Ati and Mongo
Mongo, Chad
Mongo is a city in Chad, the capital of the region of Guéra. It lies 252.2 miles by road east of the capital N'Djamena. It is served by Mongo Airport....
. Goukouni, increasingly angered with the IAF's refusal to fight Habré, made an attempt to restore his relations with Libya, and reached Tripoli on May 23, but Gaddafi, burned by his experience the previous year, proclaimed his state neutrality in the civil war.
The GUNT forces attempted to make a last stand at Massaguet
Massaguet
Massaguet is a city in Hadjer-Lamis region, western Chad. It is located at around .A 86.6km highway completed in 1969 connects Massaguet with N'Djamena....
, 50 miles north of capital on the Abéché-N'Djamena road, but were defeated by the FAN on June 5 after a hard battle. Two days later Habré entered unopposed in N'Djamena, making him the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
source of national government in Chad, while Goukouni fled the country seeking sanctuary in Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
.
Immediately after occupying the capital, Habré proceeded to consolidate his power by occupying the rest of the country. In barely six weeks, he conquered southern Chad, destroying the FAT
Chadian Armed Forces
The Chadian Armed Forces were the army of the central government of Chad from 1960 to 1979, under the southern presidents François Tombalbaye and Félix Malloum, until the downfall of the latter in 1979, when the head of the gendarmerie, Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué, assumed command...
, Kamougué's militia, whose hopes for Libyan help failed to materialize. Also the rest of the country was submitted, with the exception of the Tibesti.
GUNT offensive
Since Gaddafi had kept himself mostly aloof in the months prior to the fall of N'Djamena, Habré hoped at first to reach an understanding with Libya, possibly through an accord with its proxy in Chad, the leader of the Revolutionary Democratic Council (CDR) Ahmat Acyl, who appeared receptive to dialogue. But Acyl died on July 19, replaced by Acheikh ibn OumarAcheikh ibn Oumar
Acheikh ibn Oumar is a Chadian politician and military leader. In the 1980s he led the Democratic Revolutionary Council , a military-political group opposing the government of President Hissène Habré....
, and the CDR was antagonized by Habré's eagerness to unify the country, making him overrun the CDR's domains.
Therefore, it was with Libyan support that Goukouni reassembled the GUNT, creating in October a National Peace Government with its seat in the Tibesti town of Bardaï and claiming itself the legitimate government by the terms of the Lagos Accord
Lagos Accord
The Lagos Accord was a peace agreement signed on August 21, 1979 by representatives of eleven warring factions of the Chadian Civil War, after a conference in Lagos, Nigeria. The accord established the procedures for setting up the Transitional Government of National Unity , which was sworn into...
. For the impending fight Goukouni could count on 3,000–4,000 men taken from several militias, later merged in an Armée Nationale de Libération (ANL) under the command of a Southerner, Negue Djogo
Negue Djogo
Negue Djogo was a Chadian officer and politician.A French-trained Sara officer, his first prominent assignment came in 1966 when, still a lieutenant, he was made by President François Tombalbaye prefect of the key Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region, which France, Chad's former colonial power, had...
.
Before Gaddafi could throw his full weight behind Goukouni, Habré attacked the GUNT in the Tibesti, but was repelled both in December 1982 and in January 1983. The following months saw the clashes intensify in the North, while talks, with even an exchange in March of visits between Tripoli and N'Djamena, broke down. Therefore, on March 17 Habré brought the Chad-Libya quarrel before the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, asking for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to consider Libya's "aggression and occupation" of Chadian territory.
Gaddafi was ready now for an offensive. The decisive offensive began in June, when a 3,000 strong GUNT force invested Faya-Largeau, the main government stronghold in the North, that fell on June 25, and then rapidly proceeded towards Koro Toro
Koro Toro
Koro Toro is an anthropological and an archaeological site located in southern Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region in Chad. It is known for the discovery of the Australopithecus bahrelghazali fossil hominin that was first discovered in January 1995....
, Oum Chalouba and Abéché, assuming control of the main routes towards N'Djamena. Libya, while helping with recruiting and training and providing the GUNT with heavy artillery, only committed a few thousand regular troops to the offensive, and most of these were artillery and logistic units. This may have been due to Gaddafi's desire that the conflict should be read as a Chadian internal affair.
The international community
International community
The international community is a term used in international relations to refer to all peoples, cultures and governments of the world or to a group of them. The term is used to imply the existence of common duties and obligations between them...
reacted adversely to the Libyan-backed offensive, in particular France and the United States. On the same day as the fall of Faya, the French Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson
Claude Cheysson
Claude Cheysson is a French Socialist politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of Pierre Mauroy from 1981 to 1984.-Career:...
warned Libya that France would "not remain indifferent" to a new Libyan involvement in Chad, and on July 11 the French government accused again Libya of direct military support to the rebels. French arms shipments were resumed on June 27, and on July 3 a first contingent of 250 Zairians arrived to strengthen Habré; the United States announced in July military and food aid for 10 million dollars. Gaddafi suffered also a diplomatic setback from the OAU, that at the meeting held in June officially recognized Habré's government and asked for all foreign troops to leave Chad.
Supplied by Americans, Zairians and the French, Habré rapidly reorganized his forces (now called Chadian National Armed Forces
Chadian National Armed Forces
The Chadian National Armed Forces was the army of the central government of Chad from January 1983, when the President Hissène Habré's forces, in first place his personal Armed Forces of the North , were merged...
or FANT) and marched north to confront the GUNT and the Libyans, that he met south of Abéché. Habré proved again his ability, crushing Goukouni's forces, and started a vast counteroffensive that enabled him to retake in rapid succession Abéché, Biltine
Biltine, Chad
Biltine is a city in Chad, and the capital of Wadi Fira region .The town was briefly captured on November 25, 2006 by the RADF, a rebel group, then recaptured the next day by the government, along with nearby Abéché that had been captured by a different rebel group, the UFDD...
, Fada and, on July 30, Faya-Largeau, threatening to attack the Tibesti and the Aouzou Strip.
French intervention
Feeling that a complete destruction of the GUNT would be an intolerable blow for his prestige, and fearing that Habré would provide support for all opposition to Gaddafi, the Colonel called for a Libyan intervention in force, as his Chadian allies could not secure a definitive victory without Libyan armor and airpower.Since the day after the fall of the town, Faya-Largeau was subjected to a sustained air bombardment, using Su-22 and Mirage F-1s from the Aouzou air base, along with Tu-22 bombers from Sabha
Sabha Air Base
-Overview:Sabha Air Base is a Libyan Air Force base southeast of Sabha, Libya. The base is home to the 1st and 1025th Squadrons of MiG-25 fighter aircraft.It also supports the Tu-22 bomber, but it is unclear if any of these aircraft are operational....
. Within ten days, a large ground force had been assembled east and west of Faya-Largeau by first ferrying men, armor, and artillery by air to Sabha, Al Kufrah
Al Kufrah
Kufra or Kofra , also spelled Cufra, is the largest district of Libya. Its capital is Al Jawf, one of the oases in Kufra basin. There is a very large oil refinery near the capital....
, and the Aouzou airfield, and then by shorter range transport planes to the area of conflict. The fresh Libyan forces amounted to 11,000 mostly regular troops, and eighty combat aircraft participated to the offensive; nowithstanding this, the Libyans maintained their traditional role of providing fire support, and occasional tank charges, for the assaults of the GUNT, that could count on 3,000–4,000 men on this occasion.
The GUNT-Libyan alliance invested on August 10 the Faya-Largeau oasis, where Habré had entrenched himself with about 5,000 troops. Battered by multiple rocket launcher
Multiple rocket launcher
A multiple rocket launcher is a type of unguided rocket artillery system. Like other rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers are less accurate and have a much lower rate of fire than batteries of traditional artillery guns...
(MRL), artillery and tank fire and continuous airstrikes, the FANT's defensive line disintegrated when the GUNT launched the final assault, leaving 700 FANT troops on the ground. Habré escaped with the remnants of his army to the capital, without being pursued by the Libyans.
This was to prove a tactical blunder, as the new Libyan intervention had alarmed France. Habré issued a fresh plea for French military assistance on August 6. France, also due to American and African pressures, announced on August 6 the return of French troops in Chad as part of Opération Manta
Operation Manta
Operation Manta is the code name for the French military intervention in Chad between 1983 and 1984, during the Chadian-Libyan conflict. The operation was prompted by the invasion of Chad by a joint force of Libyan units and Chadian Transitional Government of National Unity rebels in June 1983...
, meant to stop the GUNT-Libyan advance and more generally weaken Gaddafi's influence in the internal affairs of Chad. Three days later several hundred French troops were dispatched to N'Djamena from the Central African Republic
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...
, that were later brought to 2,700, with several squadron of Jaguar
SEPECAT Jaguar
The SEPECAT Jaguar is an Anglo-French jet ground attack aircraft, originally used by the British Royal Air Force and the French Armée de l'Air in the close air support and nuclear strike role, and still in service with several export customers, notably the Indian Air Force and the Royal Air Force...
fighter-bombers. This made it the largest expeditionary force ever assembled by the French in Africa, except for the Algerian War of Independence
Algerian War of Independence
The Algerian War was a conflict between France and Algerian independence movements from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria's gaining its independence from France...
.
The French government then defined a limit (the so-called Red Line), along the 15th parallel
15th parallel north
The 15th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 15 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, Central America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean....
, extending from Mao
Mao, Chad
Mao is a city in Chad, the capital of the Kanem Region and of the department also named Kanem.As in other Chadian regions, Mao is ruled by both a traditional Sultan and by central government officials...
to Abéché, and warned that they would not tolerate any incursion south of this line by Libyan or GUNT forces. Both the Libyans and the French remained on their side of the line, with France showing itself unwilling to help Habré retake the north, while the Libyans avoided starting a conflict with France by attacking the line. This led to a de facto division of the country, with Libya maintaining control of all the territory north of the Red Line.
A lull ensued, during which in November talks sponsored by the OAU failed to conciliate the opposing Chadian factions; no more successful was Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
's leader Mengistu
Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam is a politician who was formerly the most prominent officer of the Derg, the Communist military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991...
's attempt at the beginning of 1984. Mengistu's failure was followed on January 24 by a GUNT attack, supported by heavy Libyan armor, on the FANT outpost of Ziguey, a move mainly meant to persuade France and the African states to reopen negotiations. France reacted to this breach of the Red Line by launching the first significant air counter-attack, bringing into Chad new troops and unilaterally raising the defensive line to the 16th parallel
16th parallel north
The 16th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 16 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, Central America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean....
.
French withdrawal
To put an end to the deadlock, Gaddafi proposed on April 30 a mutual withdrawal of both the French and Libyan forces in Chad. The French President François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
showed himself receptive to the offer, and on September 17 the two leaders publicly announced that the mutual withdrawal would start on September 25, and be completed by November 10. The accord was at first hailed by the media as a proof attesting Mitterrand's diplomatic skills and a decisive progress towards the solution of the Chadian crisis; it also answered Mitterrand's intent of following regards Libya and Chad a foreign policy independent from both the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the Chadian government.
While France respected the deadline, the Libyans limited themselves to retiring some forces, while maintaining at least 3,000 men stationed in Northern Chad. When this became evident, it resulted in a source of considerable embarrassment for the French and the occasion of recriminations between the French and Chadian governments.
On November 16 Mitterrand met with Gaddafi on Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, under the auspices of
the Greek prime minister Papandreou
Andreas Papandreou
Andreas G. Papandreou ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, a socialist politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics. The son of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas was a Harvard-trained academic...
. Despite Gaddafi's declaration
that all Libyan forces had been withdrawn, the next day Mitterrand admitted that this was
not true but did not order French troops back to Chad.
According to Nolutshungu
Sam Nolutshungu
Samuel Clement Nolutshungu was one of the foremost South African scholars, and an internationally acclaimed expert on South African politics....
, the 1984 bilateral Franco-Libyan agreement may have provided Gaddafi with an excellent opportunity to find an exit from the Chadian quagmire, while bolstering his international prestige and posing him in a condition to force Habré into accepting a peace accord which would have included Libya's proxies. Instead, Gaddafi misread France's withdrawal as a willingness to accept Libya's military presence in Chad and the de facto annexation of the whole BET Prefecture by Libya, an action that was certain to meet the opposition of all Chadian factions and of the OAU and the UN. Gaddafi's blunder would eventually bring about his defeat, with the rebellion against him of the GUNT and a new French expedition in 1986.
New French intervention
During the period between 1984 and 1986, in which no major clash took place, Habré greatly strengthened his position thanks to staunch US support and Libya's failure to respect the Franco-Libyan 1984 agreement. Also decisive was the increasing factional bickering that started plaguing the GUNT since 1984, centered around the fight between Goukouni and Acheikh ibn Oumar over the leadership of the organization.In this period, Gaddafi expanded his control over northern Chad, building new roads and erecting a major new airbase, Ouadi Doum, meant to better support air and ground operations beyond the Aouzou Strip, and brought in considerable reinforcements in 1985, rising their forces in the country to 7,000 troops, 300 tanks and 60 combat aircraft. While this build-up took place, significant elements of the GUNT passed over to the Habré government, as part of the latter's policy of accommodation.
These desertions alarmed Gaddafi, as the GUNT provided a cover of legitimacy to Libya's presence in Chad. To put a halt to these and reunite the GUNT, a major offensive was launched on the Red Line, whose ultimate goal was N'Djamena itsef. The attack, started on February 10, involved 5,000 Libyan and 5,000 GUNT troops, and concentrated on the FANT outposts of Kouba Olanga, Kalait and Oum Chalouba. The campaign ended in disaster for Gaddafi, when a FANT counteroffensive on February 13 using the new equipment obtained from the French forced the attackers to withdraw and reorganize.
Most important was French reaction to the attack. Gaddafi had possibly believed that, due to the upcoming French legislative elections
French legislative election, 1986
The French legislative elections took place on 16 March 1986 to elect the 8th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. Contrary to other legislative elections of the Fifth Republic, the electoral system used was that of Party-list proportional representation.Since the 1981 election of François...
, Mitterrand would have been reluctant to start a new risky and costly expedition to save Habré; this evaluation proved wrong, as what the French President could not politically risk was to show weakness towards Libyan aggression. As a result, on 14 February Opération Epervier was started, bringing 1,200 French troops and several squadrons of Jaguars in Chad. On 16th Feb, to send a clear message to Gaddafi, the French Air Force
French Air Force
The French Air Force , literally Army of the Air) is the air force of the French Armed Forces. It was formed in 1909 as the Service Aéronautique, a service arm of the French Army, then was made an independent military arm in 1933...
bombed Libya's Ouadi Doum airbase. Libya retaliated the next day when a Libyan 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...
bombed the N'Djamena Airport
N'Djamena International Airport
N'Djamena International Airport , serves N'Djamena, Chad, and is the main international airport of Chad.The airport is dual use, with civilian and military installations on opposite sides of the single runway.- Military base :...
causing minimal damage.
Tibesti War
The defeats suffered in February and March accelerated the disintegration of the GUNT. When in March, at a new round of OAU-sponsored talks held in the People's Republic of Congo, Goukouni failed to appear, many suspected the hand of Libya, causing the defection from the GUNT of its Vice-president Kamougué, followed by the First Army and the pichipichi FROLINAT Originel. In August, it was the CDR's turn to leave the coalition, seizing the town of Fada. When in October Goukouni's FAP attempted to retake Fada, the Libyan garrison attacked Goukouni's troops, giving way to a pitched battle that effectively ended the GUNT. In the same month, Goukouni was arrested by the Libyans, while his troops rebelled against Gaddafi, dislodging the Libyans from all their positions in the Tibesti, and on October 24 went over to Habré.To reestablish their supply lines and retake the towns of Bardaï, Zouar and Wour
WOUR
WOUR - 96.9 WOUR is a Classic Rock radio station that broadcasts from Utica, New York. The station is currently owned by Galaxy Communications.-On-Air Personalities:*"Gomez and Dave in the Morning" 6am-10am*Dave Frisina 10am-3pm*"Genesee Joe" 3pm-7pm*C.J...
, the Libyans sent a task-force of 2,000 troops with T-62
T-62
The T-62 is a Soviet main battle tank, a further development of the T-55. Its 115 mm gun was the first smoothbore tank gun in use.The T-62 was produced between 1961 and 1975. It became a standard tank in the Soviet arsenal, partly replacing the T-55, although that tank continued to be...
tanks and heavy support by the Libyan Air Force
Libyan Air Force
The Libyan Air Force is the branch of the Libyan Armed Forces responsible for aerial warfare. In 2010, before the 2011 Libyan civil war, the Libyan Air Force personnel strength was estimated at 18,000, with an inventory of 374 combat capable aircraft operating from 13 military airbases in...
into Tibesti. The offensive started successfully, expelling the GUNT from its key strongholds, also through the use of napalm
Napalm
Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...
and, allegedly, poison gas. This attack ultimately backfired, causing the prompt reaction of Habré, who sent 2,000 FANT soldiers to link with the GUNT forces. Also Mitterrand reacted forcefully, ordering a mission which parachuted fuel, food, ammunition and anti-tank missiles to the rebels, and also infiltrated military personnel. Through this action, the French made clear that they no longer felt committed to keep south of the Red Line, and were ready to act whenever they found it necessary.
While militarily Habré was only partly successful in his attempt to evict the Libyans from the Tibesti (the Libyans would fully leave the region in March, when a series of defeats in the north-east had made the area untenable), the campaign was a great strategic breakthrough for the FANT, as it transformed a civil war into a national war against a foreign invader, stimulating a sense of national unity that had never been seen before in Chad.
Toyota War
At the opening of 1987, the last year of the war, the Libyan expeditionary force was still impressive, counting on 8,000 troops and 300 tanks; but it had lost the key support of its Chadian allies, who had generally provided reconnaissance and acted as assault infantry. Without them the Libyan garrisons resembled isolated and vulnerable islands in the Chadian desert. On the other side, the FANT was greatly strengthened, now having 10,000 highly motivated troops, provided with fast-moving and sand-adapted Toyota trucks equipped with MILANMILAN
MILAN " is French and German for "kite bird") is a European anti-tank guided missile. Design of the MILAN started in 1962. It was ready for trials in 1971, and was accepted for service in 1972. It is a wire guided SACLOS missile, which means the sight of the launch unit has to be aimed at the...
anti-tank guided missile
Anti-tank guided missile
An anti-tank missile , anti-tank guided missile , anti-tank guided weapon or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armored military vehicles....
s, that gave the name of "Toyota War" to the last phase of the Chadian–Libyan conflict.
Habré started, on January 2, 1987, his reconquest of northern Chad with a successful attack
Battle of Fada
The battle of Fada took place in northern Chad in 1987, and was a turning point of the Libyan-Chadian War.- Prelude :At the beginning of 1986 the Libyans controlled all Chad north of the 16th parallel...
of the well-defended Libyan communications base of Fada. Against the Libyan army the Chadian commander Hassan Djamous
Hassan Djamous
Hassan Djamous was a Commander in Chief of the Chadian Army and a cousin of current Chadian President Idriss Déby. The Hassan Djamous International Airport is named after him....
conducted a series of swift pincer movements, enveloping the Libyan positions and crushing them with sudden attacks from all sides. This strategy was repeated by Djamous in March in the battles of B'ir Kora and Ouadi Doum, inflicting crushing losses and forcing Gaddafi to evacuate northern Chad.
This in turn endangered Libyan control over the Aouzou Strip, and Aouzou fell in August to the FANT, only to be repelled by an overwhelming Libyan counter-offensive and the French refusal to provide air cover to the Chadians. Habré readily replied to this setback with the first Chadian incursion in Libyan territory of the Chadian–Libyan conflict, mounting on September 5 a surprise and fully successful raid against the key Libyan air base at Maaten al-Sarra
Battle of Maaten al-Sarra
The battle of Maaten al-Sarra was a battle fought between Chad and Libya on September 5, 1987 during the Toyota War. The battle took the form of a surprise Chadian raid against the Libyan Maaten al-Sarra Air Base, meant to remove the threat of Libyan airpower, that had already thwarted the Chadian...
. This attack was part of a plan to remove the threat of Libyan airpower before a renewed offensive on Aouzou.
The projected attack on Aouzou never took place, as the dimensions of the victory obtained at Maaten made France fear that the attack on the Libyan Base
Maaten al-Sarra Air Base
The Maaten al-Sarra Libyan Air Force Base is an airbase in southernmost Libya located near the Ma'tan as-Sarra oasis in the Kufra district. It is one of the 13 military airbases in Libya....
was only the first stage of a general offensive into Libya proper, a possibility that France was not willing to tolerate. As for Gaddafi, being subjected to internal and international pressures, he showed himself more conciliatory, which brought as a result to an OAU-brokered ceasefire on September 11.
Aftermath
While there were many violations of the ceasefire, the incidents were relatively minor. The two governments immediately started complex diplomatic manoeuvres to bring world opinion on their side in the case, as widely expected, that the conflict was resumed; but the two sides were also careful to leave the door open for a peaceful solution. The latter course was promoted by France and most African states, while the Reagan Administration saw a resumption of the conflict as the best chance to unseat Gaddafi.Steadily, relations among the two countries improved, with Gaddafi giving signs that he wanted to normalize relations with the Chadian government, to the point of recognizing that the war had been an error. In May 1988 the Libyan leader declared he would recognize Habré as the legitimate president of Chad "as a gift to Africa"; this led on October 3 to the resumption of full diplomatic relations between the two countries. The following year, on August 31, 1989, Chadian and Libyan representatives met in Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
to negotiate the Framework Agreement on the Peaceful Settlement of the Territorial Dispute, by which Gaddafi agreed to discuss with Habré the Aouzou Strip and to bring the issue to the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
(ICJ) for a binding ruling if bilateral talks failed. Therefore, after a year of inconclusive talks, the sides submitted in September 1990 the dispute to the ICJ.
Chadian-Libyan relations were further ameliorated when Libyan-supported Idriss Déby
Idriss Déby
General Idriss Déby Itno is the President of Chad and the head of the Patriotic Salvation Movement. Déby is of the Bidyat clan of the Zaghawa ethnic group. He added "Itno" to his surname in January 2006.-Rise to power:...
unseated Habré on December 2. Gaddafi was the first head of state to recognize the new regime, and he also signed treaties of friendship and cooperation on various levels; but regarding the Aouzou Strip Déby followed his predecessor, declaring that if necessary he would fight to keep the strip out of Libya's hands.
The Aouzou dispute was concluded for good on February 3, 1994, when the judges of the ICJ by a majority of 16 to 1 decided
Case Concerning the Territorial Dispute (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya/Chad)
The Case Concerning the Territorial Dispute was brought before the International Court of Justice in 1994 and decided by the court in 1994. The case was won by Chad, whose sovereignty over Aouzou Strip was affirmed .-External links:*...
that the Aouzou Strip belonged to Chad. The court's judgement was implemented without delay, the two parties signing as early as April 4 an agreement concerning the practical modalities for the implementation of the judgement. Monitored by international observers, the withdrawal of Libyan troops from the Strip began on April 15 and was completed by May 10. The formal and final transfer of the Strip from Libya to Chad took place on May 30, when the sides signed a joint declaration stating that the Libyan withdrawal had been effected.
Libyan retaliation against France and the United States
Muammar Gaddafi was angered by the devastating counter-attack on Libya and the ensuing defeat at the Battle of Maaten al-SarraBattle of Maaten al-Sarra
The battle of Maaten al-Sarra was a battle fought between Chad and Libya on September 5, 1987 during the Toyota War. The battle took the form of a surprise Chadian raid against the Libyan Maaten al-Sarra Air Base, meant to remove the threat of Libyan airpower, that had already thwarted the Chadian...
. Forced to accede to a ceasefire, the defeat ended his expansionist projects toward Chad and his dreams of African and Arab dominance.
Given the French intervention on behalf of Chad and U.S. supply of satellite intelligence
GEOINT
Geospatial intelligence, GEOINT , GeoIntel , or GSI has no universally accepted definition and it has been said that if you "ask 10 people to define 'geospatial intelligence,' and you are likely to get 10 different answers."-Official definition:The...
to FANT during the battle of Maaten al-Sarra, Gaddafi blamed Libya's defeat on French and U.S. "aggression against Libya". The U.S. did not conceal its satisfaction over the Libyan defeat with an official stating that "We basically jump for joy every time the Chadians ding the Libyans". The result was Gaddafi's lingering animosity against the two countries which led to Libyan support for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
over Lockerbie
Lockerbie
Lockerbie is a town in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. It lies approximately from Glasgow, and from the English border. It had a population of 4,009 at the 2001 census...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
on 21 December 1988, and the bombing of 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....
on 19 September 1989.