Aozou Strip

Disputed border land between Libya and Chad.

The Aozou Strip is disputed land along the common border between Libya and Chad some 310 miles (800 km) long and 40 miles (100 km) deep, encompassing at its northwestern end the Tibesti massif. The strip was ceded by France from French Equatorial Africa to Italian Libya under the Mussolini - Laval Treaty in 1935. Although the treaty itself was ratified by both France and Italy, the instruments of ratification were never exchanged and, under the 1955 Franco - Libyan Treaty and the 1956 Franco - Libyan exchange of letters, the previous border, stemming from the 1899 Anglo - French Agreement over their respective spheres of influence in Africa, was generally regarded as being the appropriate international border - although not by Libya. In November 1972, Libya occupied the Aozou Strip and administered it until forced out of most of the region in March 1987. The dispute over the strip between Libya and Chad is now before the International Court of Justice at The Hague.

Bibliography

Joffe, E. G. H. "Frontiers in North Africa." In Boundaries and State Territory in the Middle East and North Africa, edited by Gerald H. Blake and Richard N. Schofield. The Cottons, Cambridgeshire, U.K.: Middle East and North African Studies Press, 1987.

— GEORGE JOFFE