Chapters › Turkiyya & Mahdiyya · Chad & Central Sahara

Libya (Ottoman, Italian, independent)

1551 CE – present

Key events

• Independence 1951

Capitals / sites

Tripoli

Geopolitics

Before independence, Libya touched Sudan through the Sanusi order: its centre at Jaghbub lay on the main trade route 'between the Sudan and the coast', and in 1895 it moved its headquarters south to Kufra (LOC_LBY1987_SANUSI). Kufra, the last Sanusi stronghold, fell to Italy in 1931 (LOC_LBY1987_ITALOSANUSI), and a 1934 accord with Britain and Egypt transferred the Sarra Triangle, a corner of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, to Italian control (LOC_LBY1987_FOURTHSHORE). Under Qaddafi, relations swung between hostility and cordiality: Nimeiri hosted anti-Qaddafi broadcasts while Libya trained anti-Nimeiri forces and supported the SPLM; Sadiq al-Mahdi let Libyan forces base in Darfur to help Chadian rebels until Sudan asked them to leave in 1988 under Egyptian and US pressure; after 1989 a unity agreement was negotiated (1990) and Qaddafi visited Khartoum (LOC1991_LIBYA). [REPORTED – UN PoE, interview-based] UN Panel of Experts reports describe a southern Libya supply line for the RSF. In 2023, fuel and Land Cruisers came from southern Libya, and one car convoy passed through Kufra. Libyan sources said the Kufra-based Subul al-Salam brigade and the 128 Brigade helped resupply the RSF (UNPOE_S2024_65, paras. 44–47) [SINGLE-SOURCE – S/2024/65 para. 47]. In 2024, the RSF sought to control smuggling routes from Kufra to El Malha and Mellit, and from Sabha to Zuruk. Supplies from southern Libya and eastern Chad were routed through a hub at Bir Mirgui, and an RSF ammunition convoy from southern Libya was intercepted in North Darfur in November 2024 (UNPOE_S2025_239, paras. 71–72, 98, 104).

Culture

Research in progress We have not yet read a source for this section. It will be added once one is checked; nothing is filled in by guesswork.

Economy

In 1990 Libya and Sudan signed a trade and development protocol providing Libyan investment in Sudanese agriculture in exchange for guaranteed access to Sudanese food, and agreed to plan easier travel between Darfur and Libya's Al Khalij area (LOC1991_LIBYA) [SINGLE-SOURCE].

Regional power

Research in progress We have not yet read a source for this section. It will be added once one is checked; nothing is filled in by guesswork.

Open data flags

• culture_dominance: no source-backed text yet
• regional_power: no actors scored
• Ottoman phase 1551–1911 not covered
• 2011 fall of Qaddafi and Darfur effects not covered – thin
• REPORTED – Kufra/southern-Libya RSF supply line per UN PoE S/2024/65 and S/2025/239 (interview-based)
• SINGLE-SOURCE – Subul al-Salam / 128 Brigade role rests on S/2024/65 para. 47 only

Sources

1. U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division (H.C. Metz ed.) Sudan: A Country Study – 'Libya' U.S. Library of Congress (US government; dated) link [en]
2. U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division (H.C. Metz ed.) Libya: A Country Study – 'The Sanusi Order' U.S. Library of Congress (US government; dated) link [en]
3. U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division (H.C. Metz ed.) Libya: A Country Study – 'The Second Italo-Sanusi War' U.S. Library of Congress (US government; dated) link [en]
4. U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division (H.C. Metz ed.) Libya: A Country Study – 'The Fourth Shore' U.S. Library of Congress (US government; dated) link [en]
5. Panel of Experts on the Sudan (established pursuant to UNSC resolution 1591 (2005)) (2024) Letter dated 15 January 2024 from the Panel of Experts on the Sudan addressed to the President of the Security Council (final report) United Nations Security Council link [en]
6. Panel of Experts on the Sudan (established pursuant to UNSC resolution 1591 (2005)) (2025) Letter dated 14 April 2025 from the President of the Security Council acting in the absence of a Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan addressed to the President of the Security Council (final report of the Panel of Experts) United Nations Security Council link [en]
7. UNESCO International Scientific Committee General History of Africa, V: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century UNESCO link [en]
8. A.A. Abdussalam & F.S. Abusedra (Part II) (1985) The colonial economy: North Africa (General History of Africa VII, ch.17) UNESCO link [en]
9. A.A. Mazrui (ed.) General History of Africa VIII: Africa since 1935 – Sudan passages ('North Africa and the Horn', pp.148–150; economy and political-succession passages) UNESCO link [en]
10. Wikipedia contributors History of Libya Wikipedia link [en]

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