Gaddafi's Chemical Weapons: Chronicles of the Chadian-Libyan Conflict

The civil war in Chad has become one of the most protracted conflicts on the African continent. Its gradual  internationalization led to the participation of three foreign military contingents in an internal armed confrontation Libya has taken an active military part in the civil war in Chad since 1972. There were several indications in certain  studies about the use of chemical weapons by the Libyan troops. In the realities of the 1980s, these allegations could  be true, or they could be an element of some information campaign against Libya. The purpose of this article is to  verify the reports of the use of chemical weapons in Chad. Sources, methods. The sources for the study were the UN  documents, declassified CIA materials and media reports. Cross-analysis of the documents, as well as the historical  reconstruction of background events were carried out. Discussion of the results and conclusions. The analysis of the  sources showed that, to date, no material evidence of the use of chemical weapons by Libyan troops in Chad has been  found. There were no testimonies of direct witnesses and victims. No investigations have been carried out. Two sources  of dissemination of information about the use of chemical weapons in northern Chad have been identified. The first  one is the representatives of one of the participants in the civil war, Hissene Habré, who held the post of president in  N'Djamena and fought against the Libyan troops. Representatives of H. Habré made such statements in December  1986. They cannot be considered reliable. In this way, one of the parties to the civil war wanted to show that Chad  was the victim of the aggression with the use of weapons prohibited by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. However, it was  established that in 1986 Libya did not possess chemical weapons. The second source is the CIA reports retransmitted  to the public space in September 1987 about the alleged deliveries of chemical weapons to Libya from Iran. The  reliability of these reports is doubtful. The «Iranian trace» has also not been proven. In 1987, during the Iran-Iraq war  (1980-1988), chemical weapons were used against Iran, but the military-chemical potential of Iran itself has not been  established. However, such an accusation organically fit into the policy of containment of «rogue states» pursued by  the administration of US President Ronald Reagan. In this article, cross-analysis methods have been tested. They have  shown their effectiveness in retrospective investigations.

1. Filippov V.R. Chad: War of All Against All // Geopolitics Magazine. 2015. № 5. P. 21–36 (in Russian).

2. Filippov V.R. «Fransafrique» Phenomenon in French Historiography // Notes of the Institute for African Studies RAS. 2022. № 5 (82). P. 73–87 (in Russian).

3. Podgornova N.P. French Policy in the Countries of Northwest Africa. Moscow: Institute of the Middle East, 2015. 112 p. (in Russian)

4. Prados J. How Qaddafi Came Clean // Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 2005. November-December. V. 61. № 6. P. 26–33.

5. Bahgat G. Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Case of Libya. International Relations. 2008. V 22(1). P. 105–126.

6. Sinai J. Libya's Pursuit of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Nonproliferation Review. 1997. 4:3. P. 92–100. https:// doi.org/10.1080/10736709708436683/

7. Terrill W.A. Libya and the Quest for Chemical Weapons // Conflict Quarterly. Winter 1994. P. 47–61.

8. Weapons of Mass Destruction. An Encyclopedia of Worldwide Policy, Technology, and History. Vol. I: Chemical and Biological Weapons. / Eds. Croddy E.A., Wirtz J.J., Larsen J.A. 2005. 1121 p.

9. Handbook of Toxicology of Chemical Warfare Agents. 2nd ed. / Ed. Gupta R. 2009. 1184 p.

10. Egorin A.Z. History of Libya. XX century. Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies RAS, 1999. 563 p.

11. Egorin A.Z. Muammar Gaddafi. Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies RAS, 2009. 464 p.

12. Korobov S.A. History of the Formation of the Borders of Libya during the Years of Italian Rule (1911–1943) // Bulletin of the Tomsk State University. Story. 2017. № 50. P. 103–107 (in Russian).

13. Mamluk F. Libya and Africa. From the Chadian conflict to the «Arab spring» // Asia and Africa Today. 2017. № 8. P. 38–43. (in Russian).

14. Neville L. Technicals: Non-Standard Tactical Vehicles from the Great Toyota War to modern Special Forces. Oxford, New York City: Osprey Publishing, 2018. 76 p.

15. Konovalov I.P. French Military Operations in Africa. Pushkino, Center for Strategic Conjuncture. Moscow, 2014. 148 p. (in Russian).

16. Shishov A.V. Military Conflicts of the Twentieth Century. From South Africa to Chechnya. Moscow: Veche, 2006. 576 р. (in Russian).

17. SIPRI Yearbook 1987. World Armaments and Disarmament. 1988. 495 p.

18. Cooper T., Grandolini A., Delalande A. Libyan Air Wars. Part 3: 1986–1989. 2016. 84 р.

19. Guy A. The A to Z of Civil Wars in Africa. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham-Toronto-Plymouth, UK, 2009. 491 р.

20. United Nations. United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC). Compendium. 2007. Chapter III. The Chemical Weapons Programme. 343 р.

21. Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq`s WMD With Addendums. Vols. 1–3. Washington, CIA, 2004. 1048 p.

22. Ledgard J. The Preparatory Manual of Chemical Warfare Agents. 3rd ed. 2012. 635 p.

23. Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare / Ed. Tuorinsky S.D. 2008. 847 p.

24. Hank Ellison D. Handbook of Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents. Vol. 1. Military Chemical and Toxic Industrial Agents. 3rd ed. 2022. 812 p.

25. Graef I., Karnofsky D.A., Jager V.B. et al. The Clinical and Pathologic Effects of the Nitrogen and Sulfur Mustards in Laboratory Animals // American Journal of Pathology. 1948. V. XXIV. № 1. 1–47 p.

26. Hank Ellison D. Handbook of Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents. 2nd ed. 2008. Р. 146

27. Itkin M.M. Brief Guide to the Pathology, Clinic and Treatment of Lesions with Chemical Warfare Agents. Saratov, 1942. P. 29–36 (in Russian).

28. Supotnitskiy M.V. Chemical Weapons in the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988). 5 Accumulated Experience in the Treatment of Lesions Caused by Sulfur Mustard // Journal of NBC Protection Corps. 2021. V. 5, № 2 P. 123–135. EDN: RSZXVG. https://doi.org/10.35825/2587-5728-2021-5-2-123-135 (in Russian).

29. Bartenev V.I. R. Reagan – M. Gaddafi: the American-Libyan Confrontation in the 1980s. // Modern and Contemporary History. 2010. № 5. P. 64–83 (in Russian).

30. Franke Z. Chemistry of Poisonous Substances. T. 1. M., «Chemistry», 1973. P. 145-151

31. Fries A., West C. Chemical warfare. New-York, London. 1921. 445 р.

32. United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC). Compendium. The Biological Weapons Programme. 266 p.

33. Supotnitsky M.V., Petrov S.V., Kovtun V.A. The Influence of Chemical Weapons on Tactics and Operational Art in World War 1 (Essays in the History of Chemical Weapons), Part 1 // Journal of NBC Protection Corps. 2017. V. 1; № 1. P. 53–68; № 2. P. 39–63; № 3. P. 51–78. EDN: VMNUBW. https://doi.org/10.35825/2587-5728-2017-1-1-53-68 (in Russian).

34. Супотницкий М.В., Петров С.В., Ковтун В.А. Химическое оружие в Первой мировой войне. М.: Русская панорама, 2020. 446 с. 34.Supotnitsky M.V., Petrov S.V., Kovtun V.A. Chemical Weapons in World War I. Moscow: Russian panorama, 2020. 446 p. (in Russian).

35. Triandafillov V.K. The Nature of the Operations of Modern Armies. 3rd ed. Moscow: Gosvoenizdat, 1936. 259 p. (in Russian)

36. Fishman Ya.M. Gas Warfare. Part 1. Moscow: 1924. 343 p. (in Russian)

37. Meshcheryakov N. Chemical Warfare. Moscow, 1925. 63 p. (in Russian)

38. History of the East: In 6 volumes / Russian acad. Sciences. Institute of Oriental Studies; Editorial board: R.B. Rybakov and others. Moscow: Vostochnaya Lit., 2000. V.6: The East in the Contemporary Period (1945–2000). V. 6. 2008. 1095 p. (in Russian)

39. Contemporary History of the Arab Countries of Africa, 1917–1987 / B.G. Seyranyan, D.R. Voblikov, A.M. Khazanov and others; Editorial Board: V.V. Naumkin (Chief Editor) and others; Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Institute of Oriental Studies. Moscow: Nauka, 1990. 469 p. (in Russian)

40. Frolov A.V. Fight for Libya: External Players and Their Stakes // Scientific Notes of the Institute for African Studies RAS. 2021. № 2(55). P. 28 (in Russian).

41. Babkin S.E., Egorin A.Z., Mironova G.V., Podtserob A.B. Libya: the Era of Gaddafi: in 2 Vols. T. 1. / Resp. ed. N.G. Romanova; Institute of Oriental Studies RAS. Moscow. 2020. 242 p. (in Russian)

42. Babkin S.E., Egorin A.Z., Mironova G.V., Podtserob A.B. Libya: the Era of Gaddafi: in 2 Vols. V. 2. / Resp. ed. N.G. Romanova; Institute of Oriental Studies RAS. Moscow, 2020. 348 p. (in Russian)

43. Bartenev V.I. The Concept of «Rogue States» in US Foreign Policy // International Processes. 2009. V. 7. № 19. P. 84–92 (in Russian).