In Africa, border clashes frequently interacted with
rebellions. Libya intervened in Chad in the 1980s, both in order to pursue a
territorial claim to a northern strip of the country and in order to support
protégés seeking to control the entire country. Overt Libyan intervention in
1983 with about 6,000 troops led to a military response by France and Zaire
(Congo), which enjoyed the benefit of intelligence provided by us aerial
surveillance. The Libyan advance was reliant on Soviet doctrine and training,
but this was not going to be a conflict decided by armoured vehicles and
related tactics. Instead, the Chad forces opposed to Libya benefited from light
vehicles and a raider's desire for mobility, and used mortars and anti-tank
rockets in order to inflict heavy casualties on the Libyans.
These tactics were employed again in the `Toyota War' of
March 1987, with the Libyans losing over 3,000 troops and much of their armour
as they were driven from most of the north of Chad. French aircraft were used
against Libyan ground forces on a number of occasions, but the French did not
act at the close of 1990 when a new faction invaded Chad from Sudan and
overthrew the government. Attempted coups, rebellions and ethnic clashes
continued there for years. Libyan claims were also seen as a challenge by other
neighbours. In 1977, Egypt mounted a successful surprise attack on Libyan
frontier positions in order to indicate its anger with Libyan pretensions and
policies.
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