Word: gaddafi
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Publicly, Egypt insisted that its bitter four-day mini-war with Libya (TIME, Aug. 1) had been no more than a minor border skirmish. A series of frontier infiltrations and espionage attempts had forced Cairo to teach Libya's erratic strongman, Muammar Gaddafi, a lesson in good manners. Rather like a stern uncle rebuking a wayward nephew, President Anwar Sadat described Gaddafi as "a second Napoleon" and "just a child"-inspiring Tripoli spokesmen to dismiss the Egyptian President as "a Zionist tool...
According to Cairo, that was the extent of the lesson Egypt wanted to teach Gaddafi. But at week's end, the Libyan-based Arab Revolutionary News Agency insisted that Egyptian MiGs were striking targets that stretched from the Mediterranean to some 250 miles south of Tobruk. The attacks, charged a Libyan spokesman, were "in preparation for a land offensive on Libya." Boasting that Gaddafi's forces had downed eight Egyptian warplanes, the spokesman then warned: "If this unjustifiable aggression is not stopped, the Libyan forces will retaliate strongly in the depth of Egypt." Officials in Cairo at first...
...military clashes were a culmination of the long-running feud between the erratic Gaddafi and Sadat. After Gaddafi struck an arms deal with the Soviets in 1975, Sadat concluded that Gaddafi was trying to overthrow him by supporting an Egyptian underground with Libyan money and Russian arms. In early July, when an extremist Muslim sect called the Society for Repentance and Retreat murdered a former Egyptian Cabinet minister and planted bombs in Cairo, the Egyptian government blamed it on Gaddafi. At least four people have been executed in Egypt as Libyan "saboteurs." Sadat is incensed by Libyan propaganda that mocks...
Good Friend. Gaddafi, for his part, is annoyed that Egypt is becoming a good friend of Libya's alienated southern neighbor Chad. The government of Chad is battling a rebellion in the north; it has accused Libya of backing the rebels. There are rumors that Egypt is planning to give Chad military aid to fight the rebels and, ultimately, Libya...
...full-scale war, Egypt's army outnumbers Libya's by about 11 to 1 and is much better trained. But Cairo must worry about 200,000 Egyptians who live and work in Libya to bolster that country's infant economy. They would become hostages of Gaddafi in any serious Shootout...