Feb
4
“Sometimes Friends, Sometimes Enemies”: Political Relations Between Chad and Libya
February 4, 2012 | Shirley Akrasih |29 Comments
These week, I think I want to focus more on Chad and Libya’s relationship. It is very interesting because both nations were essentially at war with each other years ago, but for many reasons, they became much better neighbors in recent times. I want to more closely examine their past relations and understand the factors that led to their improved diplomatic relationship.
http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/aozou.htm
http://www.danielpipes.org/178/chads-victory-over-libya-is-also-a-victory-for-the-us
http://themoornextdoor.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/the-coffin-and-libyas-war-in-chad/
Collelo, Thomas (1990). Chad http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/tdtoc.html
Azevedo, Mario J. (1998). Roots of Violence: A History of War in Chad.
Pollack, Kenneth M. (2002). Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948–1991.
http://themoornextdoor.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/the-coffin-and-libyas-war-in-chad/
http://www.sudantribune.com/Chad-says-it-will-not-execute-ICC,38950
29 Comments so far
Qadhafi’s seizure of the Aouzou Strip in 1973 and the Toyota War of 1987 are fascinating dimensions of the Libyan-Chadian relationship. The roots of the relationship are ancient, with slaving being a key dimension of the Senoussi rulers from Kufra (Idris became king of Libya in 1951) as well as of the Waddai sultanate of eastern Chad. Qadhafi came to power in 1969 and immediately got entangled in Chad, siding of course with the northerners (Muslims) but the Arab Chadians of the central belt in particular. Habre was northern but Gorane not Arab, just as Deby is northern but Zaghawa not Arab — and the Deby-Qadhafi relationship was never clear. That Deby has remained in power so long simply defies belief.
Wow. This definitely sounds like a complicated relationship indeed! There is a lot to deal with, but I think I will try to focus on some aspect of the Habre-Deby-Qadhafi relationship and try to make some more sense of it.