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{{Short description|Last phase of the Chadian–Libyan conflict}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|partof=the [[Chadian–Libyan conflict]] and the [[Cold War]]
|image=EUFOR - Tchad (3).jpg
|caption=Chadian soldiers on a [[Toyota Land Cruiser (J70)|Toyota Land Cruiser]] pickup truck in 2008. Vehicles such as these gave the 1986–1987 conflict its name.
|date=
|place=[[Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture]], [[Chad]]
|casus=Libyan occupation of northern Chad
|territory=
|result=
*Ceasefire agreement
*Expulsion of Libyan forces from Chad
|combatant1={{plainlist|
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|commander1={{plainlist|
* {{flagdeco|Libyan Arab Jamahiriya}} [[Muammar Gaddafi]]
* {{flagdeco|Libyan Arab Jamahiriya}} [[Khalifa Haftar]]{{POW}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.jeuneafrique.com/41980/politique/libye-la-deuxi-me-vie-de-khalifa-haftar-au-tchad-et-la-d-faite-finale-de-ouadi-doum/|title=Libye : la deuxième vie de Khalifa Haftar au Tchad et la défaite finale de Ouadi Doum|last=Touchard|first=Laurent|date=21 October 2014|work=[[Jeune Afrique]]|access-date=28 October 2018}}</ref>
* {{flagdeco|PLO}} Mahmoud Abu Marzouq
}}
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|strength1={{ubl|'''Libya''':{{ubl|90,000{{sfn|Metz|2004|p=254}}|300+ tanks|60+ aircraft}}|'''CDR''':{{ubl|1,000 militia<ref>''The Americana Annual, 1988'', 180</ref>}}}}
|strength2={{ubl|'''FANT''':{{ubl|28,000{{sfn|Azevedo|1998|p=119}}}}|'''FAP''':{{ubl|1,500–2,000<ref>''The Economic Cost of Soviet Military Manpower Requirements'', 143</ref>}}|'''France''':{{ubl|1,500|12+ aircraft}}}}
|casualties1={{ubl|7,500 killed|1,000 captured|800 tanks
|casualties2=1,000 killed<ref name=Pollack397 />
|casualties3=
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{{Campaignbox Toyota War}}
}}
The '''Toyota War''' ({{Lang-ar|حرب
The war began with the Libyan occupation of northern Chad in 1983, when Libya's leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]], refusing to recognise the legitimacy of the [[Chadian President]] [[Hissène Habré]], militarily supported the attempt by the opposition [[Transitional Government of National Unity (Chad)|Transitional Government of National Unity]] (GUNT) to overthrow Habré. The plan was foiled by the intervention of France which, first with [[Operation Manta]] and later with [[Operation Epervier]], limited Libyan expansion to north of the [[16th parallel north|16th parallel]], in the most arid and sparsely inhabited part of Chad.<ref>{{harvnb|Pollack|2002|pp=382–385}}</ref>
In 1986, the GUNT rebelled against Gaddafi, stripping Libya of its main cover of legitimacy for its military presence in Chad. Seeing an occasion to unify Chad behind him, Habré ordered his forces to pass the 16th parallel so as to link up with the GUNT rebels (who were fighting the Libyans in [[Tibesti Mountains|Tibesti]]) in December.{{sfn|Nolutshungu|1995|p=212}} A few weeks later a bigger force struck at [[Fada, Chad|Fada]], destroying the local Libyan garrison. In three months, combining methods of guerilla and conventional warfare in a common strategy,{{sfn|Azevedo|1998|p=124}} Habré was able to retake almost all of northern Chad, and in the following months, inflicted new heavy defeats on the Libyans, until a [[ceasefire]] putting an end to the conflict was signed in September. The ceasefire left open the issue of the disputed [[Aouzou Strip]], which was eventually [[Libya–Chad Territorial Dispute case|assigned to Chad]] by the [[International Court of Justice]] in 1994.
==Background==
{{main|Chadian–Libyan conflict}}
Since 1983, [[Chad]] was ''de facto'' partitioned, with the northern half controlled by the rebel [[Transitional Government of National Unity (Chad)|Transitional Government of National Unity]] (GUNT) headed by [[Goukouni Oueddei]] and supported on the ground by [[Armed forces of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya|Libyan forces]], while the south was held by the Western-backed Chadian government guided by [[Hissène Habré]].<ref>{{harvnb|Pollack|2002|p=383}}</ref> This partition on 16th parallel (the so-called Red Line) into Libyan and French zones of influence was informally recognised by France in 1984, following an accord between France and [[Libya]] to withdraw their forces from Chad.{{sfn|Brecher|Wilkenfeld|1997|p=92}} The accord was not respected by Libya, which maintained at least 3,000 men stationed in northern Chad.{{sfn|Azevedo|1998|p=140}}
During the period between 1984 and 1986, in which no major clash took place, Habré greatly strengthened his position thanks to Western support and Libya's failure to respect the Franco-Libyan 1984 agreement. From 1984 onwards, the GUNT also suffered increasing factional tensions, centered on the fight between Goukouni and [[Acheikh ibn Oumar]] over the leadership of the organisation.{{sfn|Nolutshungu|1995|pp=191–192, 210}} Taking advantage of the GUNT's difficulties, Habré struck a series of accords with smaller rebel factions, which left the GUNT at the beginning of 1986 with only three of the eleven factions that had originally signed the [[Lagos Accord]] in 1979. The remaining factions were Goukouni's [[People's Armed Forces]] (FAP), Acheikh's armed branch of the [[Democratic Revolutionary Council]] (CDR) and that part of the [[Chadian Armed Forces]] (FAT) which had maintained its loyalty to [[Wadel Abdelkader Kamougué]].{{sfn|Ngansop|1986|p=160}}
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{{Main|Chadian–Libyan conflict}}
[[File:Chad relief map 1991, CIA.jpg|thumb|left|A map of Chad, with the Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture, where the war took place]]
At the opening of 1987, the last year of the war, the Libyan expeditionary force was still impressive, comprising 8,000 soldiers, 300 tanks, multiple rocket launchers ([[rocket artillery]]) and regular artillery pieces, [[Mil Mi-24|Mi-24]] helicopters, and sixty combat aircraft{{clarify|date=October 2022}}. These forces did not have a unified command
The Libyans
==Libyan expulsion==
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In March 1987, the main Libyan air base of Ouadi Doum was captured by Chadian forces. Although strongly defended by [[land mine|minefields]], 5,000 soldiers, tanks, armoured vehicles, and aircraft, the Libyans' base fell to a smaller Chadian attacking force led by Djamous equipped with [[Technical (vehicle)|trucks mounted with machine guns and antitank weapons]]. Observers estimated that, in the Chadian victories in the first three months of 1987, more than 3,000 Libyan soldiers had been killed, captured, or deserted. Large numbers of tanks, armoured personnel carriers, artillery, fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters were captured or destroyed. In some cases, Libya sent its own aircraft to bomb abandoned Libyan equipment to deny its use to the Chadians.<ref name="Times1987-4-4">{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Chad victors claim aid from US intelligence|date=1987-04-04 |page=6 |issue=62734 |column= }}</ref><ref name="Times1987-4-13">{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Billion-dollar litter of Libyans' desert defeat|date=1987-04-13 |page=11 |issue=62741 |column= }}</ref> It was reported that, in many cases, Libyan soldiers had been killed while fleeing to avoid battle. At Ouadi Doum, panicked Libyans had suffered high casualties running through their own minefields.{{sfn|Metz|2004|p=262}}
The fall of Ouadi Doum was a severe setback for Libya. Deserted by most of their Chadian allies, Libyan forces found themselves isolated in foreign territory, and the loss of the main Libyan air base in Chad prevented Libya from providing close air cover to its troops. In general, the offensive against FANT had exposed the vulnerability of Libya's heavy armour to a more mobile enemy. On Gaddafi's orders, a general withdrawal was undertaken from [[Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture]], beginning with [[Faya-Largeau]]. The town had served as the main Libyan base during the preceding four years, but was in danger of being encircled. Its garrison of 3,000 men, together with the survivors of Ouadi Doum, retired toward the Libyan base at Maatan-as-Sarra, north of the Chadian border.{{sfn|Collelo|1990|p={{
These military actions left Habré in control of Chad and in a position to threaten the expulsion of Libya from the [[Aouzou Strip]], affected the international perception of Libya as a significant regional military power, and cast renewed doubt on the competence and determination of Libyan soldiers, especially in engagements beyond the country's borders to which they evidently felt no personal commitment.{{sfn|Metz|2004|p=262}}
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{{Further|Battle of Aouzou|Battle of Maaten al-Sarra}}
[[File:Map of Aouzou stip chad-svg.svg|left|thumb|The Aouzou Strip, highlighted in red]]
In August 1987, the encouraged Chadians carried their offensive into the disputed Aouzou Strip, occupying the town of [[Aouzou, Chad|Aouzou]] following another battle in which the Libyans suffered severe losses in troops and abandoned equipment. In retaliation, Libya intensified its air bombardments of towns in the north, usually from altitudes beyond the range of FANT's shoulder-fired missiles. Appeals by Habré for French air missions to defend the area against the bombing were rejected, as Aouzou had been retaken against the wishes of [[President of the French Republic|French President]] [[François Mitterrand]]. Instead, Mitterrand called for international mediation to settle competing claims to the [[territorial dispute|disputed territory]].{{sfn|Collelo|1990|p={{
After a succession of counterattacks, toward the end of August, the Libyans finally drove the 400 Chadian soldiers out of the town. This victory – the first by Libyan ground forces since the start of the Toyota War – was apparently achieved through close-range air strikes, which were followed by ground troops advancing cross-country in jeeps, Toyota all-terrain trucks, and light armoured vehicles. For the Libyans, who had previously relied on ponderous tracked armour, the assault represented a conversion to the desert warfare tactics developed by FANT.{{sfn|Collelo|1990|p={{
Habré quickly reacted to this setback and to the continued bombing of FANT concentrations in northern Chad. On September 5, 1987, he mounted a [[Battle of Maaten al-Sarra|surprise raid against the key Libyan air base at Maaten al-Sarra]]. Reportedly, 1,000 Libyans were killed, 300 were captured, and hundreds of others were forced to flee into the surrounding desert. Chad claimed that its troops destroyed about 32 aircraft – including [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21]] and [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23|MiG-23]] fighters, [[Sukhoi Su-17|Sukhoi Su-22]] [[fighter-bombers]], and [[Mil Mi-24]] helicopters – before the FANT column withdrew to Chadian soil.{{sfn|Collelo|1990|p={{
The attack had been opposed by France, which refused to provide FANT with intelligence and logistical support, causing FANT to suffer considerable losses. The [[Minister of Defence (France)|French Defence Minister]]
==Ceasefire==
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==See also==
{{Portal|Africa|Libya|Socialism}}▼
*[[Panhard AML]] – FANT's use of swift wheeled vehicles, including AML-90 models, allowed Chadian forces to break through combined arms formations and cause severe damage before the slower Libyan tanks (including [[T-54/T-55|T-55s]]) could track or engage their targets.
==References==
▲{{Portal|Africa|Libya}}
{{Reflist|24em}}
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* {{cite book|author-link=Kenneth Pollack|last=Pollack |first=Kenneth M.|title=Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948–1991|publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]]|year=2002|isbn=0-8032-3733-2 }}
* {{cite book|last=Simons|first=Geoff|title=Libya and the West: From Independence to Lockerbie|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2004|isbn=1-86064-988-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/libyawestfromind00simo}}
* [http://www.fluctuat.net/7370-La-revolution-Toyota-en-Libye Le pick up des guerilleros, La révolution Toyota en Libye] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130222041529/http://www.fluctuat.net/7370-La-revolution-Toyota-en-Libye |date=2013-02-22 }}(2011). Tristan Ranx. Fluctuat.net.
{{good article}}
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[[Category:Wars involving Libya]]
[[Category:Wars involving Chad]]
[[Category:Battles of the Chadian–Libyan
[[Category:1986 in Libya]]
[[Category:1987 in Libya]]
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