Libyan-Chadian War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Libya-Chadian War (Cold War) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Combatants | |||||||
 Libya |
 Chad France |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Muammar al-Qadhafi | Hissein Habré | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| Thousands | Unknown | ||||||
The Libyan-Chadian War began in 1980 when Libya invaded Chad. Libyan forces were defeated in 1987.
Contents |
[edit] Background
In 1975, Libya, controlled by former Army Colonel Qadhafi, occupied and subsequently annexed the Aouzou Strip, a 70,000-square-kilometer area which formed the mutual border of Northern Chad and Southern Libya. It was thought that large deposits of uranium were located in this desolate area.
[edit] The conflict
In June 1980, Libya sent a further group of troops into Chad on behalf of President Goukouni Oueddei against the French-backed forces of Hissein Habré. The Libyan force was made up of 10,000 troops, spearheaded by 60 Soviet made T-55 tanks, and contained advisors from both the East German and Soviet Armies. As this force overwhelmed the poorly equipped Chadian military, the Libyans seized the capital of N’Djamena by the end of the year. Under increasingly insistent pressure from other African countries and political factions in Chad, along with an overextended supply line, the Libyans withdrew in November 1981. They continued, however, to support the rebels under Oueddei and provide him with training and arms.
When the rebel forces were faced with defeat in July 1983, Qadhafi sent in his air force, attacking Chadian forces at Faya Largeau using Su-22 fighters as well as Tu-22 bombers. Two weeks later, a Libyan ground force again invaded and occupied the northern regions of the country. The French launched Operation Manta, a 3000 man task force of ground troops, accompanied by fighter aircraft and air defense systems, that ended the Libyan successes, thus leading to the division of the country along the 16th parallel. Both France and Libya agreed to remove their troops from Chad in November 1984. The French did, the Libyans did not.
In February 1986, France initiated Operation Epervier. The operation started in the night of February 13 to 14 1986, in the framework of the Defense agreement between France and Chad, and prepared by a meeting in N'Djamena between the Chadian President Hissène Habré and the French Defense Minister Paul Quilès. The goal of the meeting was to contain Libyan invasion, which had caused the loss of all Chadian territory north of the 16th parallel, and was now menacing the capital, following a new offensive started on February 10, by Qaddafi, in the erroneous belief that there would have been no French reaction.
The French Air Force was the first to strike: on February 16, Opération Coup de poing badly damaged the airstrip of Ouadi Doum, a strategic air base in Chad by which Libyan planes could attack N'Djamena and hamper the deployment of the troops. Following this event, on February 18, 200 French Commandos took possession of Camp Dubut, near N'Djamena, which had already been France's headquarters during Opération Manta (1983–1984). The Commandos secured the camp for the mission's air force, which arrived the night of the 18th and was composed of six Mirage F1 and four Jaguar. To defend the capital and the camp against future hostile air attacks, a battery of MIM-23 Hawk missiles arrived on March 3, and shortly thereafter a radar was stationed at Moussoro, defended by 150 French troops. This brought the total number of troops in the country to 900.
For many months the troops remained largely inoperative, and the air force limited itself to reconnaissance missions for the Chadian army, remaining careful not to pass the 16th parallel. But when in October the leader of the GUNT Goukouni Oueddei rebelled against his former protector Qaddafi, and vicious fighting erupts in the Tibesti among his People's Armed Forces militia (1500–2000 men) and the Libyan army, strong of 8000 men, the stuation changed. Overwhelmed by superior forces, Goukouni's forces were in great difficulty; this brought France to project a mission to help the Tibesti rebels. In the night between September 16 and 17, two Transall transport aircraft parachuted, into the Tibesti, 6000 liters of gasoline, munitions, provisions, and also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. It was also reported by Le Monde that a small number of French soldiers had secretly entered in the Tibesti to support Goukouni's men.
On January 2, Habré's troops infested the capital of the Ennedi, Fada; the battle was a triumph for the Chadians, while 781 Libyans remained on the ground. A decisive role was played by French supplies, especially the anti-tank MILAN missiles. Qaddafi answered by violating the red line of the 16th parallel; Libyan planes bombed Arada, 110km south of the line, and Oum-Chalouba, close to a new French base estabilished at Kalaït, exactly on the 16th parallel, manned by 250 troops. France's reaction was to bomb again, on January 7, the airbase of Ouadi Doum: the fourteen aircraft employed in the operation destroyed the Libyan radar station, but limited themselves to this.
In what appears to have been a rising escalation, on January 11, Libyan forces raided the French-Chadian base of Kalaït. Qaddafi also prepared a vast offensive: to the 8000 men stationed in the Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti, he added 4000–6000 troops. In the meanwhile, the French also strengthened their forces; in February, Operation Sparrowhawk reached 2200 men and established two new bases at Biltine and Abéché (Camp Moll), in eastern Chad.
With the knowledge of the French aid, Habré concentrated most of his forces near Fada. Finally, on March 18, the Libyan offensive was started. The result was a disaster for Qaddafi. 1200 Libyans were killed and 500 were taken prisoner. Faya-Largeau, the main Libyan stronghold in Chad, was taken, without force, on March 27. France was not officialy involved in the recapture of Northern Chad, however it is believed that a special unit of the DGSE participated in the takeover of Ouadi Doum. But it was only in May, when the French defense Minister Alain Giraud visited the town of Faya-Largeau, that the French troops respecting the 16th parallel was declared a surpassed policy.
Libyan expulsion from Chad did not conclude the Chadian-Libyan conflict; the dispute on who was the rightful possessor of the Aouzou strip remained open, and when Habré occupied Aouzou on August 8, the French contingent was once again involved. This happened on August 25, when Qaddafi bombed Faya-Largeau, where a French parachute regiment was stationed, but no actual losses occurred. Habré started yet a new offensive. In retaliation, a Tupolev Tu-22 was sent on September 7 to bomb the capital, but the aircraft was destroyed by the anti-air battery, proving the efficiency of the French defenses of N'Djamena. A second Libyan attack on Abéché was no more successful. France decided not to react to these attacks, to prevent an escalation.
On September 11, the Chadians and Libyans accepted a ceasefire mediated by the OAU, therefore ending the war. While long negotiations among the two parties started, the French continued to fortify their positions in Chad. The French assumed humanitarian tasks, such as the clearing of mines Northern Chad; it was fulfilling to one of these missions that Operation Sparrowhawk reported, on January 14, 1988, its first loss.
The Chadian-Libyan conflict reached its conclusion in October 1988, when Chad resumed formal diplomatic relations with Libya, in accordance with recommendations made by the OAU. As a result, the French contingent started diminishing, also for economic reasons: in 1987 alone, Operation Sparrowhawk had cost France 1,700,000 French francs. In 1989, the number of men employed in Chad had fallen to 1,000, and many minor bases were dismantled.
[edit] Zairian involvement
In the 1980s, Zaire's President, Mobutu Sese Seko, was an avowed enemy of Gaddafi, and favoured Habré.[1] Elements of the Zairian 31st Airborne Brigade were contributed to an OAU peacekeeping force in 1981–1982, as part of a regional plan to pacify Chad and stabilize Goukouni's government.[2] Zaire's interests were mostly self-serving; a Libyan-dominated Chad would menace both Sudan and the Central African Republic, states contiguous with Zaire.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Library of Congreß.
- ^ Crawford Young and Thomas Turner, The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State, p. 268.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Libyan History.
- Daniel PIPES.
- Chad country study.
