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| Africa North |
| Sudanese army seizes southern Libyan town |
| 2011-07-02 |
| Officials overseeing the no-fly zone enforced by Nato over Libya said the Sudanese move north of border had not encountered resistance from troops loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi. Since the February uprising against his regime, the Libyan leader's forces have been concentrated around Tripoli, the capital; Sirte, the eastern town that is Col Gaddafi's birthplace and Sebha, the desert outpost where the dictator grew up. Officials said control of the town of Kufra and nearby military base granted the Sudanese a key strategic foothold between the regime and the opposition Transitional National Council (TNC) which holds the eastern seaboard and a series of rebel enclaves. The Sudanese have not disrupted efforts to resume oil production on nearby southern oilfields. "Our surveillance shows that they are not moving oil, so its not about money in the short term," said one Western official. "The commercial oil companies monitoring is reporting that there has been no movement of oil out of Libya. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #8 "a long term strategic objective of regional regimes with scruples" Bummer - that leaves them all out. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-07-02 14:10 |
| #7 Kufrah is a key transport/supply depot on the desert route from Cyrineica to Western Sudan (Darfur). Weapons, troops and supplies have often been shipped on a pretty much straight north-south line along the eastern border of Libya. I don't believe the oil pipeline system in Sudan is connected in any major way to the Libyan oil system. I would imagine that the building of a pipeline connecting the two would be a long term strategic objective of regional regimes with scruples. |
| Posted by: Kentucky Beef 2011-07-02 13:25 |
| #6 What a GREAT intervention strategy! Pretty much got to figure his support for training camps is pretty much done. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2011-07-02 12:00 |
| #5 The Sudanese are laying down a marker in case the rebels win. If the rebels do succeed, they'll be busy enough just trying to establish order that they won't be able to do anything about a Sudanese excursion into Kufra. The Sudanese Arabs have to replace the oil they won't be getting from south Sudan, after all. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2011-07-02 11:45 |
| #4 "The world was a busy place for us spooks 25 years ago." And it isn't now, OS? |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-07-02 09:48 |
| #3 Look up the Toyota War in case you hand;t heard of it. Allegedly our support for Chad's ass-kicking of invading Libyan troops by Chadian forces was one of the vectors that led to Ghadaffy being angry enough to order the Lockerbie bombing. The world was a busy place for us spooks 25 years ago. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2011-07-02 09:34 |
| #2 Sudanese and Libyans have been at it off an on since 71. look for Chad to get involved and get some payback while they can as well. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2011-07-02 09:29 |
| #1 Kufra is about 400 Ks from the Sudan border. Looks like an invasion to me. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2011-07-02 02:41 |