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Libya
Sudan
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be withdrawn from Sudanese territory.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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