Libyan-Chadian War

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Libya-Chad War
(Cold War)

Date	1980-1987
Location	Chad
Result	Libyan defeat

Combatants

Chad

Commanders

Casualties

Thousands

Unknown

The Libya-Chad War begun in 1980 when Libya invaded Chad. Libyan forces were defeated in 1987.

1 Background
2 The conflict
3 See also
4 External links

[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 north Chad and Libya border. It was thought that large deposits of uranium were 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. This force overwhelmed the poorly equipped Chadian military and the Libyans seized the capital of N’Djamena by the end of the year. International pressure and an overextended supply line prompted the Libyans to withdraw in 1981. Under increasingly insistent pressure from other African countries and from political factions in Chad, 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 and led to 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 didn't.

In February 1986, France initiated Operation Epervier. The operation 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 beteen 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 partecipated 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. France 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.