Content deleted Content added
m Dating maintenance tags: {{Clarify}} |
added the word "up" Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
||
Line 46:
The war began with the Libyan occupation of northern Chad in 1983, when Libya's leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]], refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the [[Chadian President]] [[Hissène Habré]], militarily supported the attempt by the opposition [[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==
| |||