Operation Sparrowhawk
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Operation Sparrowhawk (Fr.: Opération Épervier) is the codename for the current French military presence in Chad[1].
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[edit] Containing Libya
- see: Libya-Chad conflict
Operation Sparrowhawk started in the night of February 13 to 14 1986, in the framework of the Defence agreement between France and Chad, and prepared by a meeting in N'Djamena between the Chadian President Hissène Habré and the French Defence Minister Paul Quilès. Its goal was to contain Libyan invasion, that had brought to 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, that 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 after 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 unoperative, 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 situation 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 parachutted in the Tibesti 6000 litres 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 invested 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's awnsered 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, Libyan forces raided on January 11 the French-Chadian base of Kalaït; it was the first direct attack on the French contingent, that suffered no losses. Not only, Qaddafi prepares a vast offensive: to the 8000 men stationed in the Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti he added 4000-6000 troops. In the meanwhile, also the French strengthened their forces; in February Operation Sparrowhawk reached 2200 men and estabilished two new bases at Biltine and Abéché (Camp Moll), in eastern Chad.
Knowing now that his back is fully covered by the French, Habré concentrated most of his forces near Fada; and when on March 18 the Libyan offensive was at last started the result was a disaster for Qaddafi. 1200 Libyans were killed and 500 taken prisoners, and Faya-Largeau, the main Libyan stronghold in Chad, was taken without fighting on March 27. In this recapture of Northern Chad, France officially did not take part to the combats; but it is believed that a special unit of the DGSE participated to the take of Ouadi Doum. But it was only in May, when the French Defence Minister Alain Giraud visited the town of Faya-Largeau, that the respect of the 16th parallel by the French troops 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 was stationed a French parachute regiment, but without causing any real damage. And when Habré will start 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 defences of N'Djamena. A second Libyan attack on Abéché was no more successful. Franch decided not to react to these attacks, to prevent an escalation.
On September 11 Chadians and Libyans accept a ceasefire mediated by the OAU, that puts an end to the war. While long negotiations among the two parties start, the French continues to fortify their positions in Chad, for example by completing in September an air strip at Abéché. The French start assuming humanitarian tasks, like clearing of mines northern Chad; it was fulfulling 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: only in 1987 Operation Sparrowhawk had costed to France 1,700,000 French francs. In 1989 the number of men employed in Chad had falled to 1,000, and many minor bases dismantled.
[edit] A new president in Chad
Habré was an indirect victim of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The diminished importance of Africa for French policy, that also brought France to become more critical of Habré's unimpressive human rights record. Habré's moved to free himself from French tutelage by searching the USA's friendship and help also considerably cooled down the relationship between Paris and N'Djamena, to the point that the French decided to remain neutral in the conflict that started in April 1989 between the President and his former general Idriss Déby. On his part, Déby promised not to attack the French base at Abéché, and in his march to the capital was followed by an officer of the DGSE, Paul Fontbonne.
Déby occupies the Chadian capital on December 3, 1990, with the French maintaining themselves neutral. The increasing pillaging in the city did cause the troops to react: they secured the city's key-points (the airport, the embassy, the power station) and evacuated its 1250 western civilans.
With Déby in power, while Franco-Chadian relations remain good, those with Libya bettered considerably. Among the conditions asked by Qaddafi to Déby for his friendship was the deportation in Libya of the Haftar force, composed of former Libyan troops that had deserted; to save them they were secretly brought in Nigeria in a joint operation that involved both the CIA and components of Operation Sparrowhawk. Notwithstandind this, Chadian-Libyan relations remained good, and the last issues among the two countries were resolved in 1994 by the International Court of Justice of The Hague, that gave the Aouzou Strip to Chad.
The operation's key roles have been the logistic support to the French cooperation in their restructuration and reduction of the Chadian army, that was reduced from 40,000 to 25,000 men, and their role in making possible the presidential election of 1996. Actions like the former helped the French authorities in justifying their presence in the country: when Amnesty International questioned them in April 1996 on this presence, the official awnser was that Operation Sparrowhawk was being used to assist the democratic process in Chad, and also as an internal and external deterrent.[1]
In theory Operation Sparrowhawk, that had been created to contain Libyan expansionism, had with the settlement of all issues among the two countries, had lost all reasons to remain in the country; but Chad became to be seen now as the "French aircraft carrier of the desert", of key strategic importance as one of the five countries (the others were Djibouti, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gabon) with a continuative French military presence in August 2002. In that period Operation Sparrowhawk could count on 951 men, disposed in the bases of Hadji Kossei near N'Djamena and that of Croci next to Abéché.
[edit] The new Sudanese menace
The menace represented by Sudan and its proxies had already brought the French forces to increase their units to 1,200 troops based near N'Djamena to protect the Chadian President Idriss Déby's administration in the event of a large scale attack by the United Front for Democratic Change rebels or an invasion by their chief tactical and financial supporters, the Sudanese military. French involvement, which increased by 300 troops in April of 2006, further complicates the Chadian-Sudanese conflict. The force can also count at the moment on six Mirage F1, three tactical transport planes, two Breguet reconnaissance planes and three Puma helicopters.[2]
Prior to, but especially after the Battle of N'Djamena, French airplanes have participated in reconnaissance missions to determine the scope of Sudanese involvement.[3]. The French forces also played a small but important part in the battle of N'Djamena, where they provided logistical support to the government but without taking sides in the fighting; they also provided the Chadian army with intelligence on the enemy's movemements, and shot warning fires on the rebel column.[4]
President Déby has responded to increasing instability by threatening to expel the 200,000 Sudanese Fur refugees "if after June" the international community has not acted so he "can't guarantee the security of [his] citizens and the refugees."[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "France's Ties With African Leaders Fading", ABC News, 22 April 2006.
- ^ "The French army helped the Chadian government", Le Figaro, 19 April 2006.
- ^ "AU investigates if Sudan backing rebels in Chad", CNN, 21 April 2006.
- ^ "Rebels Are Repelled in Capital of Chad", New York Times, 13 April 2006.
- ^ "After Battle in Capital, Chad Threatens to Expel Sudanese", New York Times, 15 April 2006.
[edit] External links
- Opération Epervier (in French)
- Relief in N'Djamena
