Abstract
This article reviews the policy that Libya has followed vis-à-vis the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the African Union (AU) during the last decade. The first part examines Libya's attempt to promote the ‘United States of Africa’ agenda. It analyses the multifaceted role of Libya in the AU and presents her attempts to promote sub-regional integration through the Community of Sahel-Saharian States (CEN-SAD). It also examines Tripoli's policy of mediating in African conflicts and reinforcing economic relations with SSA. The second part of the article examines Libya's policy towards SSA in the context of her wider external relations and evaluates the extent of continuity and change. The article concludes that volatility continues to be the crucial characteristic of Libya's foreign policy.
Notes
The Executive Council forwarded the proposal to the Assembly (AU doc. EX.CL/Dec. 131 (IX) (29 June 2006), which apparently took no action.
The establishment of a common defence policy for Africa is among the principles guiding the functioning of the AU (Article 4 of the Constitutive Act).
The defense of territorial integrity and the independence of Member States are stated objectives of both the OAU (Article II of the Charter) and the AU (Article 3 of the Constitutive Act).
Cited by Totolo Citation(2009).
See www.cen-sad.org.
The text of the Agreement is available at http://allafrica.com/peaceafrica/resources/view/00010926.pdf.
Cited by St John (Citation2008a, pp. 82–83).
Cited by Mezran and de Maio (Citation2007, p. 444).
Cited by Mezran and de Maio (Citation2007, p. 450).