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A Bibliographic Review: Studies of Libya's International Borders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

Stefano Ciarli and
Keith McLachlan
Keith McLachlan
Affiliation:
School Of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
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Abstract

The Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya has, since 1980, been involved in no fewer than three important judgments at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, dealing with Libya-Tunisia, the Libya-Malta and the Libya-Chad boundaries. The Government of Libya accepted all the judgments made at the ICJ without equivocation.

The settlement of the Mediterranean continental shelf issues with Tunisia (1982) and with Malta (1985) may be seen as technical adjustments leading to a fixing of boundaries in undemarcated areas. Both judgments were comparatively favourable to Libya and extended Libya's area of hydrocarbon activities off-shore.

In the matter of Libyan land claims to the Aouzou strip on the Chad borderlands, the situation was rather different. The international boundary between Libya and Chad was laid down under a 1955 convention. In 1972 the Libyan Government annexed the Aouzou strip. The ICJ gave its judgment on 3rd February 1994, by 16 votes to 1 finding that the boundary between the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and the Republic of Chad is defined by the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighbourliness concluded on 10th August 1955 between the French Republic and the United Kingdom of Libya, thus restoring the Aouzou strip to Chad.

A select bibliography of sources dealing with Libya's international boundaries is attached, itemising key texts in Western languages.

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Libyan Studies , Volume 27 , 1996, pp. 89 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 1996

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References

Selected Bibliography of Materials Concerning Libya's International Borders

General

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