LIBYAN INTERVENTION IN CHAD This research paper

Between 1965 and 1988, ethnic and religious strife and accompanying internecine internal struggles led to the collapse of the post-colonial order in Chad and created a power vacuum in this central trans-Sahara region. This eventually led to the involvement of Libya in the affairs of Chad in furtherance of the strategic and other foreign policy aims of the radical revolutionary but oil-rich regime in Libya led by the mercurial Colonel Moammar Qaddafi. Libyan support for dissident Chadian warlords and competing factions rapidly grew into more overt and massive intervention by Libya, including its seizure of the disputed Aozou strip on the Libya-Chad border in 1973, its military occupation of the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, in 1980, its short-lived attempt to absorb Chad into Libya in 1981 and its domination of northern Chad in the early to mid-1980s. All of Chad's neighbors were destabilized by the strife in Chad. Most of them and other nations in sub-Saharan Africa, became alarmed at the spread of Libyan-led Islamic influence and power and the threat it represented to their multi-ethnic regimes. Various regional attempts by African nations, principally through the Organization of African Unity (OAU), to pacify Chad achieved little success.

The principal burden of containing

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Goukouni and Habre quarreled in power. OAU sent a 3,000 man Nigerian, Senegalese and Zairian peacekeeping mission to Chad, but it failed because its charter was unclear, its force was too small and it was under funded. While the French and the OAU force stayed neutral, Habre turned his forces against GUNT, which then appealed to Libya for assistance. Simons said this "was the sort of invitation Gaddhafi had been waiting for" (273). France withdrew its forces. In December 1980, seven thousand Libyan troops, supported by Soviet tanks and other armored vehicles, rolled into the capital. Habre fled to Sudan. Goukouni, who had signed a military cooperation treaty with Libya in October, and Qaddafi announced in January 1981 that Chad and Libya would soon be merged. On March 26, 1981, Qaddafi announced: "we tell France and the whole world that Chad is linked to Libya, Libya is linked to Chad by destiny, geographically, humanly, historically, futuristically, and by security and economically" (El-Khawas 145). He added somewhat ominously: "we consider [Niger], Chad's neighbor to the northwest] second in line after Chad" (145). Libya's forceful intervention in Chad was part of a new pattern in its dealings with sub-Sahara Africa. With
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 7959
Approximate Pages = 32 (250 words per page)