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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Libya
Index
Libya's relations with Sudan, like relations with virtually all
other Arab and African countries, fluctuated. Initially, Libya
supported Sudanese President Jaafar an Numayri against an
unsuccessful leftist coup attempt in 1971. Libya turned over two of
the top communist plotters to the Sudanese authorities, who
executed them shortly afterward. However, a year later Sudan
accused Libya of involvement in three successive coup attempts and
severed diplomatic relations. Relations began improving by the fall
of 1977, as Numayri and Sudanese opposition leaders began a
reconciliation. In February 1978, Libya and Sudan agreed to resume
relations but relations soon became strained after Qadhafi
condemned Sudanese support for President Anwar al Sadat of Egypt
and for the Camp David accords of September 1978.
Libya was particularly annoyed by the steadily improving
relations between Sudan and Egypt during the closing years of the
Numayri regime, which culminated eventually in an Egyptian-Sudanese
integration charter that provided Egypt with an air base in Sudan
that could serve as a counterweight to Libyan regional power.
Feeling threatened by the Cairo-Khartoum alliance and its alignment
with the West, in August 1981 Qadhafi formed the Tripartite
Alliance with Ethiopia and South Yemen PDRY, each of which was
aligned closely with the Soviet Union.
After Numayri's fall from power in April 1985, Sudanese-Libyan
relations improved. Qadhafi ended his aid to the Christian and
animist, southern-based, Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA)
led by Garang and welcomed the incoming government of General Sawar
Dhahab. In July 1985, a military protocol was signed between the
two countries, and Qadhafi was the first head of state to visit the
new Khartoum government. Qadhafi then strongly supported Sudanese
opposition leader Sadiq al Mahdi, who became prime minister on May
6, 1986. Nonetheless, the initial euphoria was subsequently
replaced by Sudan's search for a truly neutral regional and global
stance. With regard to the Chadian conflict, for instance, Mahdi's
government declared its neutrality and asked that Libyan forces be
withdrawn from Sudanese territory. Prime Minister Mahdi's attempts
to mediate the Libyan-Chadian conflict have so far proved
unsuccessful, although delegations from the warring factions have
met several times during 1986 and 1987, under Sudanese aegis.
Data as of 1987
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