Intervention and Exploitation: US and UK Government International Actions Since 1945
Libya
1931:
End of the Italian colonization of Libya, when the Sanussiys give in. [1]
1943:
With the fall of the Axis powers in the World War 2, Britain and France divides Libya: Tripolitania and Cyrenaica comes under British control. Fezzan comes under French control. [1]
1947:
In secret talks with the British, U.S. officials agree to support a British base in Cyrenaica and also agree, as the best way of securing this base, to a British trusteeship over that province. [17]
1948:
A commission set up by Britain, France, the US and the Soviet Union concludes that the people of the three provinces are eager for independence, but that "at present none of the three zones is politically ready for self-government." [17]
1949:
After Great Britain, France, the United States, and the USSR fail to to reach agreement on the future of Libya as stipulated in the 1947 peace treaty with Italy, the United Nations is given durisdiction. [5] [17]
May - Britain and Italy put forward a plan giving the British trusteeship of Cyrenaica, France of Fezzan and Italy of Tripolitania until 1959, when Libya would become independent. The Libyans are outraged and the plan is narrowly rejected by the UN General Assembly. [17]
The US and Britain decide to now back "independence" as long as the ties to Britain are strong enough to ensure Britain and the US can gain strategic rights. To this end they choose Sayyid Idris as Emir of Cyrenaica, intending to establish a federal system which would seem him installed as leader of a united Libya despite having limited public support. [17]
September - Cyrenaica becomes an independent emirate, with Emir Sayyid Idris Sanussiy as leader. [1] [17]
November 21 - United Nations grants independence for a united Libya, to be realized within the span of 2 years. The transition is to be supervised by a commissioner advised by a council of representatives from the US, Britain, France, Italy, Egypt, Pakistan, each of the three regions of Libya and one representative for the minorities in Libya. The council is thus dominated by those who will follow the US and British lead. [1] [17]
1950s:
The 1950s in Libya are characterized by great poverty; minimal economic development is made possible only by the payments and loans received from various Western nations. [5]
1950:
A national assembly convenes in Tripoli. Emir Idris is designated king of the coming kingdom. The members of the assembly had been chosen in such a way as to ensure this outcome. [1] [17]
1951:
October 7 - Promulgation of the new constitution of Libya. The constitution gives the King overwhelming authority despite public protests. [1] [17]
December 24 - King Idris declares the independence of the United Kingdom of Libya. [1]
1952:
February - Elections are held for parliament. The results are manipulated and government candidates win almost everywhere. [1] [17]
1953:
Libya enters the Arab League. [1]
December 7 - Britain obtains rights on having military bases in Libya for a period of 20 years, in return for economic subsidies. [1] [5] [17]
1954:
September 9 - USA obtains equal agreement as Britain did the preceding year on military bases. [1] [17]
1955:
Libya joins the United Nations. [1]
1956:
Concessions on oil extraction is granted to two US oil companies. More companies would follow later. [1]
1959:
Oil is discovered. [17]
1961:
September - With the opening of a 167 km long pipe line, oil exportations start from Libya. US oil companies begin to reap huge profits, as do corrupt Libyan officials. Oil goes on to make a few in Libya very rich, but most of the populus do not benefit and remain poverty stricken. [1] [17]
Libya increases its share of oil profits from 50% to 70%. [1]
1963:
Amendments to the constitution, transforming Libya into one national unity, and allowing for female participation in elections. [1]
1964:
Negotiations between Libya and Britain and USA on cessation on military installations in Libya. [1]
1966:
Most British troops are withdrawn. [5]
1967:
After the Arab-Israeli war nationalism grows in strength. [17]
1969:
September 1 - Coup against the royal palace and the king staged by young officers. The Libyan Arab Republic is established, and Mu'ammaru Qaddafi becomes head of a revolutionary council. [1] The US decides to not intervene. [17]
The regime pursues a policy of Arab nationalism and strict adherence to Islamic law; though Qaddafi espouses socialist principles, he is strongly anti-Communist. He is particularly concerned with reducing Western influences. [5]
September 14 - Libya takes effective control over banks, by obtaining 51% of the stocks. [1]
December 11 - Temporary constitution replace the old constitution. [1]
December 26 - Signing of a confederation between Libya, Egypt and Sudan. [1]
1970:
March 31 and June 30 - Last US and British troops leave Libya. [1]
The British are forced to evacuate their remaining bases in Libya, and the United States is required to abandon Wheelus Field, a U.S. air force base located near Tripoli. [5]
July 7 - Libya nationalizes the oil industry, together with all Italian assets in the country. [1]
1971:
Libya joins with Egypt and Syria to form a loose alliance called the Federation of Arab Republics. [5]
Qaddafi supports an unsuccessful coup in Chad, whereupon the latter breaks diplomatic relations, invites anti-Qaddafi groups to base themselves in the Chadian capital, and claims the Fezzan region of Libya. Qaddafi retaliates by officially recognizing the rebel organization in northern Chad, FROLINAT, and providing it with training camps. [18]
1972:
Relations are re-established between Chad and Libya. Apparently there is also a secret understanding allowing Libya to occupy a contested sliver of territory between the two countries, known as the Aouzou strip. Whether the Chadian leader was paid off for this territorial adjustment is unknown, but Libya does proceed to occupy the strip and no protest is raised. [18]
August 2 - Declaration of a merger with Egypt to be staged. [1]
1973:
February - 111 passengers and crewmembers are killed in the crash of a Libyan commercial airliner downed by gunfire from Israeli military jets as it descends, slightly off course during a dust storm, over Israeli-occupied Egyptian Sinai for a routine landing at Cairo International Airport. [3] Israel denies culpability even after the black box recording confirms no warning was given before the plane was shot down. Israel does however, agree to pay compensation to the victims' families. When the 30-member International Civil Aviation Organization votes on June 5, 1973, to censure Israel for its attack, the U.S. and Nicaragua - then under the Somoza regime - abstain. [6]
April - A "cultural revolution" is launched to seek to make life in the country more closely approximate to Qaddafi's socialist and Muslim principles. [5]
October - An implacable foe of Israel, Libya contributes some men and matériel (especially aircraft) to the Arab side in the Arab-Israeli war of this month. After the war, Libya is a strong advocate of reducing sales of petroleum to nations that had supported Israel and is also a leading force in increasing the price of crude petroleum. Qaddafi is severely critical of Egypt for negotiating a cease-fire with Israel, and relations between the two countries decline steadily after 1973 when Qaddafi fails to push through a merger with Egypt. [5]
1974:
January 12 - Merger between Tunisia and Libya is declared, but the incentive lasts only a couple of hours, since the Tunisian president reverses his decision. [1] [7]
1975:
August - Minister of Planning and RCC member Major Umar Mihayshi and about thirty army officers attempt a coup after disagreements over political economic policies. The failure of the coup leads to the flight of Mihayshi and part of the country's technocratic elite. In a move that signals a new intolerance of dissent, the regime executes twenty-two of the accused army officers in 1977, the first such punishment in more than twenty years. [1] [7]
Libya occupies and subsequently annexes the Aouzou Strip a 70,000-square-kilometer area of northern Chad adjacent to the southern Libyan border. Qaddafi's move is motivated by personal and territorial ambitions, tribal and ethnic affinities between the people of northern Chad and those of southern Libya, and, most important, the presence in the area of uranium deposits needed for atomic energy development. [7]
1976:
January - Students at the University of Benghazi protest at government interference in student union elections. Elected students who were not ASU members were considered officially unacceptable by the authorities. Security forces move onto the campus, and violence results. Reports that several students were shot and killed in the incident are adamantly denied by the government. [7]
Libya is implicated in an abortive attempt to overthrow President Nimieri of the Sudan, according to an authority on Libyan foreign policy, "while Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan were reportedly undertaking a coordinated effort to topple Qaddafi's regime." [18]
1977:
March 2 - Libya is named Jamahiriya, state of the masses. [1]
April 5 - Student demonstrations that are brutally suppressed. [1]
July - Border clashes with Egypt. [1] The cause of the hostilities between Egypt and Libya has never been clearly established, although the attacks were probably initiated by Egypt as punishment for Libyan interference and a warning against the Soviet-backed arms buildup. After border violations alleged by both sides, fighting escalates on July 19, with an artillery duel, and, two days later, a drive along the coast by Egyptian armor and infantry during which the Libyan army are engaged. Egypt claim successful surprise air strikes against the Libyan air base at Al Adem (Gamal Abdul Nasser Air Base) just south of Tobruk, destroying aircraft on the ground; surface-to-air missile batteries and radar stations are also knocked out. When the Egyptians withdraw on July 24, most foreign analysts agree that the Egyptian units have prevailed, although Libyan forces reacted better than had been expected. The Qaddafi regime nevertheless hails the encounter as a victory, citing the clash as justification for further purchases of modern armaments. [7]
November - Libya changes its national flag into the present all green. [1]
1978:
Initiatives that change the economy into socialist structures. [1]
Jimmy Carter responds in a restrained way to information that Qaddafi is planning to assassinate the U.S. Ambassador in Cairo: he sends Qaddafi a letter telling him he knows of the plan and that he had better cut it out; the plan is called off. (Carter's caution is at least partly out of concern not to upset the Egyptian-Israeli negotiations, the disruption of which is Qaddafi's motivation for the plot in the first place.) [18]
US bans military equipment sales to Libya in retaliation for Libyan support of terrorist groups. [12]
1979:
An organization in Cairo calling itself "The Revolutionary Council of the Prophet of God" announces that Qaddafi and other Libyan leaders have been sentenced to death. [18]
February 28 - Qaddafi rejects the authority of the hadith in Muslim lore. [1]
March - Despite support from French troops, the Chadian government collapses. With Nigerian mediation, a Transitional Government of National Unity is established and endorsed by the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Goukouni Oueddei and Hissene Habre -- leaders of two FROLINAT factions -- are made president and defense minister, respectively. Habre, however, with Egyptian and Sudanese help, tries to take total power for himself. Finding himself threatened, Goukouni signs a defense pact with Libya. [7] [18]
December - The US declares Libya to be a "State Sponsor of Terrorism". [10]
1980:
Actions performed to root out foreign opposition to the Libyan government. [1] He begins ordering the assassination of Libyan dissidents who are living in exile in Europe. [5] [18]
June 27 - An Italian passenger plane is shot down over the Mediterranean, killing 81 people. In 1988 it is reported that the plane was shot down by a NATO missile. It is speculated that the the plane was shot down in error, the intended target being a Libyan plane in the area which may have been carrying Qaddafi. [8]
August - French and Egyptian intelligence initiate an unsuccessful anti-Qaddafi plot. [18]
October - Libyan troops enter Chad in support of the recognized head of the government (Goukouni). [18]
1981:
January - Chad and Libya announce their intention to unite. [7]
February - A French plot (with US support) to assassinate Qaddafi is dropped when the French President Giscard is unexpectedly defeated at the polls. [8]
March - US claims that Libya is running training camps for terrorists. [12]
May - US closes Libyan diplomatic mission in Washington, citing inter alia its "support for international terrorism." [12]
August - The U.S. holds military manoeuvres off the coast of Libya in order to provoke a response from the Qaddafi regime. When a Libyan plane allegedly fires a missile at U.S. planes penetrating Libyan airspace, two Libyan planes are shot down. [4] [15] [18]
Apparently the Reagan administration had decided to cast Qaddafi as a danger, in order to justify arms spending and to counter low domestic popularity. A plan was duly drawn up by the CIA to overthrow Qaddafi's regime. [8] [9] [18]
October - US imposes controls on exports of small aircraft, helicopters, aircraft parts, avionics to Libya to "limit Libyan capacity to support military adventures in neighboring countries." [12]
Egypt and Sudan abort a plan to attack Libyan forces in Sudan when president Sadat of Egypt is assassinated (the assassination is not related to Qaddafi). [18]
Goukouni, president of Chad -- having been promised an OAU peace-keeping force and French aid -- asks the Libyan forces to leave Chad. Four days later, Qaddafi agrees. Given a deadline of December 31, Libyan troops are actually out of Chad (though not the Aouzou strip) within two weeks. [18]
The U.S. provides some of the funding for the OAU peace- keeping force, but covertly is doing everything possible to subvert the government of Chad. Beginning in early 1981, the Reagan administration had started providing arms to Habre's forces, regrouping in Sudan. Additional support was being provided by Egypt, Morocco, and France. Significantly, even after Libyan forces withdraw from Chad, U.S. aid to Habre continues. Habre proceedes to march into the country, maneuver around the OAU peace-keepers, who want to avoid combat, and takes over the government. [18]
November - Reagan accuses Qaddafi of sending a hit squad to assassinate him, but reveals no evidence of this. The information is later shown to be false, probably fabricated by a CIA group with the help of groups linked to Israel and Lebanon, who held Qaddafi as their enemy. [8] [9] [18]
Exxon abandons its Libyan operations. [12]
December - Reagan administration calls on 1,500 US citizens residing in Libya to leave "as soon as possible," citing "the danger which the Libyan regime poses to US citizens." US passports are declared invalid for travel to Libya. [12]
US oil firms agree to withdraw US personnel but announce they will be replaced with other foreign technicians. [12]
1982:
March 6 - USA embargoes oil imports from Libya and technology transfer is also banned. [7] [12]
November - US State Department warns oil companies (notably Charter Oil, Coastal Corp.) against selling refined products derived from Libyan crude in US. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) mounts opposition to Libyan occupation of Chad, assists Libyan exiles. CIA Director William J. Casey says these activities might lead to "ultimate" removal of Qaddafi. [12]
US bars Boeing sale of 12 commercial jets to Libyan Arab Airline for $600 million. [12]
1983:
President Nimieri of the Sudan meets with Mohammed Youssef Magarieff in Washington. Magarieff is a Libyan exile in Egypt, who has set up the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, "dedicated to assassinating Qaddafi and overthrowing his regime." Nimieri promises him every form of support short of war: training facilities, weapons, travel facilitation, and carte blanche to conduct any type of activity against Libya from Sudan. [18]
February - the United States announces that its swift deployment of naval vessels and AWACs has prevented an impending Libyan attack on the Sudan. Strangely, Egypt states that there is no threat and the U.S. forces withdraw the next month. At the Security Council, the U.S. replies to Libyan charges of U.S. provocative military actions, declaring that "The United States had never engaged and did not now engage in acts of provocation" and that Libyan adventurism had been deterred. [18]
We now know, however, what actually happened. The whole thing was a joint US-Egyptian-Sudanese scheme to entrap Libya. Sudanese undercover agents acting as a pro-Libyan group in Khartoum were to request Libyan air intervention, at which time the Egyptian air force, guided by AWACs and refueled by U.S. planes, would unleash devastating counterattacks on Qaddafi's planes. Egypt's only condition for the plan was that the U.S. role had to be kept secret. Once word leaked out about the movement of the AWACs, the plot had to be aborted. [18]
March-August - In Chad Goukouni is overthrown. From his Libyan exile, Goukouni reorganizes his forces and occupies the strategic northern town of Faya Largeau. As the conflict draws in other players, particularly France, Chad was in effect a partitioned country. With French help, the N'Djamena government of Hissein Habré controls the southern part of Chad. The area north of the sixteenth parallel, however, is controlled by Goukouni and his Libyan backers. [7] [12] [18]
August - President Reagan reports the deployment of two AWACS electronic surveillance planes and eight F-15 fighter planes and ground logistical support forces to assist Chad against Libyan and rebel forces. [15]
1984:
March - In response to alleged Libyan bombing of Omburdman, Sudan, US sends two AWACS surveillance planes to Egypt. [12]
April - The Libyan National Salvation Front (LNSF) organizes a demonstration in London, at which a British policewoman is killed allegedly by a Libyan diplomat, leading to the breaking of diplomatic relations between Tripoli and London. [7] There is compelling evidence that the killing was actually a CIA operation, probably with Israeli involvement, designed to vilify the Libyans, making action against Libya easier to take. [11]
May 8 - Assassination attempt on Qaddafi by the LNSF, who were trained by the CIA. Some 2,000 people are arrested and 8 publicly hanged. [1] [7] The French secret service are also involved, the French government seeing Qaddafi as a threat to their interests in Africa. [8] [18]
According to the terms of a September 1984 treaty, France withdraws its forces from Chad. Libya, however, decides to keep its troops there, and skirmishes and fighting continue intermittently. [7]
October - US charges Libya with complicity in laying of mines in Red Sea. [12]
1985:
The US State Department, with some difficulty, dissuades the White house from persuing a plan for a joint US-Eqyptian invasion of Libya. [8] [18]
September - Libya expels 100,000 immigrant workers — which strikes hard on neighbouring countries of Tunisia and Egypt. Borders to the two countries are closed. [1]
November - Washington Post reports that President Reagan has authorized covert operation to undermine Qaddafi regime, based on June 1984 CIA assessment that "no course of action short of stimulating Qaddafi's fall will bring significant and enduring change in Libyan policies." [12] [18]
US bars imports of refined petroleum products from Libya, which have increased following opening of Ras Lanuf petrochemical complex earlier this year. [12]
December - Reagan accuses Qaddafi of being involved in bomb attacks at Rome and Vienna airports, which killed 20 people including 5 US citizens. There is no evidence of Libyan involvement but new US sanctions against Libya are imposed. [8] [12] [18]
1986:
Early in the year French troops return to southern Chad and there is a de facto partition of the country. [18]
January - Reagan approves expanded covert efforts to subvert Qaddafi and authorizes a high official to travel to Cairo to continue the military planning begun last year. The investigative reporters of the Washington Post find out about the secret mission. National Security Adviser John Poindexter asks the Post to kill the story. Here we get to see how the newspaper that had exposed Watergate responds to a plea from the U.S. government to help hide a U.S. plan to violate international law. Editor Ben Bradlee decides that the mission would be mentioned, but in a passing oblique reference down in paragraph five. [18]
Reagan breaks all economic relations with Libya. At a White House meeting, according to one participant, a decision is explicitly reached to provoke Qaddafi by again sending naval vessels and aircraft to the Gulf of Sidra. Any Libyan response would be used to justify military action. For four days in January, U.S. war planes fly in the region covered by Libyan radar. In February, two carrier battle groups and their planes conduct exercises in the same region, though not in waters claimed by Libya. [18]
February - US revises sanctions to allow oil companies to continue operations in Libya temporarily. Rule allows sale of Libyan crude at Libyan ports, but bars drilling for, extracting, distributing, or marketing Libyan oil. In addition, companies are expected to dispose of their Libyan holdings "as soon as practicable on fair and appropriate terms," but no deadline is set. [12]
March - US Sixth Fleet challenges Qaddafi's claim to territorial waters in Gulf of Sidra, crosses his "Line of Death." Action provokes Libyan attack during which two Libyan patrol boats are sunk, drowning 72 Libyan sailors. An onshore antiaircraft missile site is also destroyed. [12] [15] [18]
A British engineer attests that he was watching radar screens during the two days of fighting and saw US planes cross not only into the 12 miles of Libyan territorial waters, but over Libyan land as well. "I watched the planes fly approximately eight miles into Libyan airspace," said the engineer. "I don't think the Libyans had any choice but to hit back. In my opinion they were reluctant to do so." [8]
Before and after these events Qaddafi makes several attempts to open dialogue with Washington, but all are rebuffed. [8]
The US here adopts the doctrine of "preventive war", saying that such attacks are justified "in self defense against future attack." This is the first explicit statement of this doctrine. [9]
By the end of March, various stories have reached the press regarding U.S. military plans against Libya in concert with Egypt. One plan that is described "involved an Egyptian ground attack followed by a request for United States assistance," a pattern "similar to the one in the Suez crisis of 1956...." The semi-official Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reports that there have been three U.S. efforts to get Egypt to attack Libya, all rejected by Cairo. The U.S. Ambassador to Egypt informs Washington, however, that Egyptian leader Mubarak secretly vowed to continue the anti-Libyan military planning with Washington. [18]
April 5 - Terrorist bomb destroys West Berlin discotheque frequented by US servicemen, killing three persons, injuring over 150. US charges Libyan complicity on basis of intercepted Libyan diplomatic transmissions. Reagan states that "evidence is direct, it is precise, it is irrefutable," begins planning military retaliation. [12] US and West German intelligence however, had no evidence of Libyan involvement. [14] [18]
A German TV documentary in 1998 presented evidence that the CIA and Mossad may have been involved in the bombing of the discotheque. [13]
April 14 - In hopes of forestalling US military response to West Berlin bombing, EC countries agree to reduce size of Libyan embassies, restrict movements of Libyan diplomats in Europe. [12]
April 15 - US bombers attack Qaddafi's headquarters, home, military airfields and alleged terrorist training camps around Tripoli and Benghazi in retaliation for the alleged Libyan role in 5 April bombing, and to deter future terrorist acts against US installations. Over 100 civilians are killed. UK allows US to use British airfields for exercise and provides strong public support, but France denies overflight rights for US planes. [1] [2] [3] [12] [15] [18]
May - Libyan Arab Foreign Bank files suit in London seeking payment of funds blocked by Bankers Trust London under US assets freeze. [12]
June - Treasury revokes special exemptions for US oil companies but authorizes them to enter into standstill agreements with Libyan authorities to maintain their ownership rights for three years while they continue to negotiate the sale of assets to Libya. [12]
August - OPEC officials report that France has begun boycotting imports of Libyan oil, refined products. In further attempt to destabilize Qaddafi, Reagan administration sponsors disinformation campaign on extent of Libyan opposition to Qaddafi regime. [12]
A memo from John Poindexter, the president's national security adviser, reveals some of the US disinformation program. Officials then admit that they have no evidence against Qaddafi. One senior spokesman for the State Department resigns in protest. British intelligence also describe US intelligence about Libya, passed to them, as being "wildly inaccurate" and "a deliberate effort to deceive". [8] [18]
October - Qaddafi and Goukouni have a falling out, whereupon the Libyans find themselves opposed by all Chadian factions. The Libyans are promptly routed by the Chadians, aided by new U.S. military aid, French air cover, French special forces and advisers, and U.S. and French intelligence. [18]
1987:
U.S.-Libyan confrontation calms down. Because of the falling price of oil, Qaddafi finds his country facing serious economic and social problems, and so is less inclined to challenge the United States. For its part, Washington concludes that U.S. pressure has made an anti-Qaddafi coup in Libya less likely, by making Qaddafi into a hero who had stood up to the American colossus. In addition, the Iran-contra scandal tones down the exploits of the National Security Council. [18]
March 27 - Liberalization of the economy, loosening of the socialist structures. [1]
mid 1987 - Abu Nidal is ejected from Syria, he relocates to Libya. [18]
August - Using as a pretext an alleged Libyan attack (that French sources consider to be a complete fabrication), Habre seizes Aouzou. Libya retakes it a few weeks later and a Chadian ground unit attacks an air base sixty miles inside Libya. U.S. officials deny that they advised Habre to go north, but they refuse to criticize the cross-border raid. [18]
September - The OAU get Libya and Chad to accept a cease fire. [18]
High Court of Justice in London rules in favour of Libya, orders Bankers Trust London to transfer to Libyan Arab Foreign Bank $131 million, plus accrued interest, that has been blocked by US assets freeze. US Treasury authorizes payment on 9 October. [12]
1988:
Chad and Libya restore diplomatic ties and agree to a peaceful settlement of the Aouzou issue; Qaddafi publicly concedes that his involvement in Chad was a mistake. [18]
April - Some political liberalization involves freeing of political prisoners. Borders with Tunisia and Egypt are reopened. [1] [8]
Reagan administration accuses Libya of producing chemical weapons at plant near Rabta, south of Tripoli. Although Libya claims that plant produces pharmaceuticals, production ceases for over a year. [12]
December - 38 minutes after takeoff, Pan Am Airways Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 269 passengers, most of them US citizens, and 11 people on the ground. [3]
Five months later the State Department announces that the CIA is confident that the bomb was planted by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC), led by Ahmed Jibril, based in Syria and hired by Iran to avenge the US shooting down of an Iranian airliner. Then in 1990 as the US is preparing to invade Iraq and wants the support of Syria and Iran, they switch to blaming Libya for the attack, despite a lack of any real evidence. [3] [8]
1989:
January - Two US Navy F-14 aircraft based on the USS John F. Kennedy shoot down two Libyan jet fighters over the Mediterranean Sea about 70 miles north of Libya. The US pilots say the Libyan planes had demonstrated hostile intentions. [8] [15]
January-March - Actions against Islamist group of Jihad, 1,500 arrests. [1]
January - Just before the 3-year standstill agreements are to expire, Reagan allows US oil companies to return to Libya via their European subsidiaries. Qaddafi, however, refuses to allow them to return, in effect continuing the standstill and leaving US investments in limbo. [12]
February 17 - Declaration of the Maghreb Union, together with Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. [1]
September - Establishment of a body for world Muslim revolution. [1]
A French airliner, UTA Flight 772, explodes over Niger, killing all persons aboard. French investigators later uncover evidence implicating Libyan intelligence agents. [12]
Pan Am's insurers, anticipating lawsuits from victims' families, carry out their own investigation into the Lockerbie bombing, concluding that the bomb was placed in Frankfurt (from where the plane took off, and not in Valletta as the official story goes), and was done by a Palestinian resistance movement targeting the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA). [3]
The London Times quotes an ex-DIA agent, Mr Coleman, as saying that the DEA, together with the narcotics squad of the Cypriot national police, the German BKA police and British customs, ran a 'drugs sting operation' through Cyprus and airports in Europe including Frankfurt. He was told that BKA had 'serious concerns' that a US drugs sting operation out of Cyprus had been used by terrorists to place the bomb on flight 103, by switching bags. [3]
Qaddafi reportedly cuts back funding to numerous rebel movements, asks them to close their offices in Libya. In interview in magazine Al Mussawar, Qaddafi admits to having supported terrorists in past, but "when we discovered that these groups were causing more harm than benefit to the Arab cause, we halted our aid to them completely and withdrew our support." Action parallels drop in Libyan foreign reserves to under $3 billion in first quarter of 1989. [8] [12] [18]
1990:
March - Within days of US intelligence reports that chemical weapons production has resumed at Rabta, Qaddafi blames West German agents for alleged fire at plant he claims has caused extensive damage. US intelligence agencies later conclude that alleged fire was elaborate hoax, that Rabta plant is intact, capable of resuming production. [12]
April - Qaddafi intervenes with Abu Nidal to obtain release of two French hostages, one Belgian; Qaddafi receives "personal thanks" of French President François Mitterrand. [12]
June - Palestinian terrorist, captured with several heavily armed comrades off coast of Israel, claims they were trained in Libya, transported in Libyan boats, accompanied by Libyan adviser. A few months later, Qaddafi expels radical Palestinian group responsible for attack. [12]
1991:
Strengthening of ties with Eqypt. [1]
November - US, UK, France issue joint declaration calling on Libya to surrender for trial those recently charged in the Pan Am and UTA bombings. [12]
December - The EC calls on Libya to comply with the joint demands and raises the possibility of sanctions if it does not. Libya reportedly begins to move its liquid assets out of Britain and France to Switzerland and Gulf states. [12]
Libya arrests two men suspected in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 but refuses to extradite them to the US or the UK. [12]
1992:
January - In an effort to stave off a British-backed resolution in the United Nations Security Council imposing sanctions, Qaddafi offers to surrender the Pan Am suspects to an international tribunal. [12]
March - The Security Council rejects the Libyan offer as inadequate, imposes a total air and arms embargo (UN Security Council Resolution 748) in response to Libya's continuing refusal to extradite the suspects in the bombings. The resolution also restricts the number of diplomats Libya can maintain abroad. [1] [12]
Libya was prepared to hand the suspects over for trial in Malta (where the alleged crime took place), but not Scotland or the UK. [3]
May - During remarks at a Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Indonesia, Libyan Foreign Minister Ibrahim Mohammed Beshari claims that Libya will abandon terrorism. However, Libya continues to refuse to release two suspects in the Pan Am 103 bombing. [12]
1993:
May - Libya claims that UN travel sanctions have caused the death of over 800 people and cost the country $2.2 billion in lost exports. Qaddafi appeals to his North African neighbors to help broker a UN agreement and hints that Libya would try to open its borders to greater investment and tourism in an effort to end its international isolation. [12]
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