National Front for the Salvation of Libya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (January 2007) |
The National Front for the Salvation of Libya (NFSL) is an opposition movement to Muammar al-Gaddafi's regime in Libya. The NFSL was established on October 7, 1981, when it publicly announced its formation in a press conference held in Khartoum, Sudan's capital. The NFSL launched a wide campaign to topple Gaddafi in Libya, establishing a short-wave radio station, a bi-monthly Arabic magazine "Al Inqad", along with a commandos military training camp. The NFSL's commando forces attempted to penetrate the barracks of Bab El-Azizia, where Gaddafi maintained his residence, in an attempt to assassinate the Libyan ruler on May 8, 1984. The effort was thwarted when the group's leader, Ahmed Ibrahim Ihwas, was captured in his attempt to enter Libya through its borders with Tunisia.
The NFSL continued its efforts to topple Gaddafi. The group formed the Libyan National Army, after a group of soldiers made prisoners by Chad during the Chadian-Libyan conflict defected from the Libyan Army and joined the NFSL in 1987. The Army was later evacuated from Chad after the President Hissène Habré was overthrown by one of his former officers, Idriss Déby, who was backed by Gaddafi.
The NFSL continues its campaign to topple Gaddafi, primarily through media campaigns and forming alliances with other political opposition groups. The National Conference for the Libyan Opposition (NCLO) was formed in June 2005 in London, which is composed of 7 opposition organizations, led by the NFSL and its leaders.
