LIBYAN TROUBLEMAKING--1979-1984

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00287R001302030001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 5, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP85T00287R001302030001-4
UIVC:LH551t'~1t;U
5 September 1984
SUBJECT: Libyan Troublemaking--1979-1984
April 1979 -- Libya airlifted several hundred troops to
Uganda in an unsuccessful effort to prevent the fall of Idi Amin.
December 1979 -- Demonstrations against US policy toward the
Khomeini regime in Iran led to the burning of the US Embassy in
Tripoli.
January 1980 -- Libya sponsored an attempt by Tunisian
dissidents to take over the southern Tunisian town of Gafsa as a
first step ~in unseating President Bourguiba.
April 1980-July 1981 -- Libyan hit squads embarked on a
series of murders of Qadhafi's exiled political opponents.
Eleven Libyans were killed: four in Rome, two in London, and one
each in Bonn, Beirut, Athens, Milan, and Manchester; several
others were seriously wounded, including one exile's two children
and a Libyan student in the United States.
October 1980 -- Libyan subversion in The Gambia prompted
President Jawara to break relations and led to the intervention
of Senegalese troops under a mutual defense treaty.
October 1980 -- Libyan troops entered Chad in order to
strengthen President Goukouni in his fight with rebel Defense
Minister Habre.
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP85T00287R001302030001-4
UNCLASSIFIED
SUBJECT: Libyan Troublemaking--1979-1984
August 1981 -- padhafi entered into the Tripartite Pact with
Ethiopia and South Yemen as a means of stepping up subversion
against Sudan and Somalia.
(Qadhafi moderated his aggressive posture in 1982 as part of
his campaign to be selected chairman of the oAU and to lessen
the damage to Libyan interests resulting from international
condemnation of his 1980-81 murder campaign)
October 1982 -- Qadhafi publicly warned Libyan dissidents in
exile to return home or face death.
February 1983 -- The US and Egypt helped foil a Libyan-
sponsored coup attempt by Sudanese dissidents against President
Nimeiri.
April 1983 -- Qadhafi's attempt to secretly airlift arms to
Nicaragua was blocked when Brazil detained a Libyan aircraft in
transit.
July-August 1983 -- Libyan aircraft and ground forces
intervened in Chad in support of Chadian rebels seeking to
recapture Faya Largeau from government forces.
August 1983 -- Libyan arms and financial support helped
Thomas Sankara oust the pro-Western regime in Upper Volta.
2
UNCLASSIFIED
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP85T00287R001302030001-4
v iv 1. 1~n771C 1GL
SUBJECT: Libyan Troublemaking--1979-1984
November 1983 -- The Libyan expeditionary force in Lebanon
participated in the fighting near Tripoli that resulted in the
evacuation of pro-Arafat Palestinians.
February 19.84 -- Oadhafi sponsored the burning of the
Jordanian Embassy in Tripoli in order to dissuade King Hussein
from seeking a negotiated settlement with Israel.
March 1984 -- Libyan agents conducted terrorist attacks
against Libyan dissidents in London and Manchester.
March 1984 -- Libya was implicated in the explosion of a
French airliner in Chad.
March 1984 -- A Libyan TU-22 bomber attacked Sudan's main
broadcasting facility near Khartoum.
April 1984 -- Libyans in the Peoples Bureau in London shot a
British policewoman and 11 Libyan dissidents demonstrating
against the hanging of students in Tripoli.
April 1984 -- A bomb placed by pro-Qadhafi extremists
exploded at London's Heathrow airport causing a number of
casualties.
June 1984 -- Qadhafi publicly threatened to "export
terrorism" to the US in retaliation for alleged US support for
the attack on his headquarters by Libyan dissidents in May.
June-July 1984 -- Libyan agents killed or seriously wounded
four Libyan dissidents in Athens.
3
UNCLASSIFIED
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP85T00287R001302030001-4
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SUBJECT: Libyan Troublemaking--1979-1984
July 1984 -- Libya released a Norwegian merchant ship
detained for over two months after interrogating and, in some
instances, torturing crew members for alleged involvement with
Libyan dissidents.
July-August 1984 -- Libya is implicated in the mining of the
Red Sea that causes damage to an estimated 18 merchant ships.
August-September 1984 -- Libya attempts to smuggle arms and
explosives into Saudi Arabia in an effort to kill Libyan
dissidents there and to disrupt the Hajj.
4
UNCLASSIFIED
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP85T00287R001302030001-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP85T00287R001302030001-4
UNCLASSIFIED
SUBJECT: Libyan Troublemaking--1979-1984
NESA M#84-10259
DISTRIBUTION:
External
Orig. Richard Armitage/DoD/ISA
1 - Kim Savett/DoD/ISA
1 - DDI
4 - CPAS/IMD/CB
1 - D/NESA STAT
2 - NESA/PS
1 - NESA/AI/D
2 - NESA AI M
I/NESA/AI/M (5 Sept 84) STAT
5
UNCLASSIFIED
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP85T00287R001302030001-4