User:Jesuiseduardo/United Nations Aouzou Strip Observer Group

The United Nations Aouzou Strip Observer Group  (UNASOG) was a United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Aouzou Strip, a narrow strip of land between Chad and Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, hereafter Libya, that operated from 4 May to 13 June of 1994. It mission was to ensure the withdrawal of the Libyan administration and forces from the Aouzou Strip in accordance with the decision of the International Court of Justice. It was established by Security Council Resolution 915.

Background
After World War I, France and Italy began discussing the land that would eventually be called the Aouzou Strip. Italy demanded that as part of the Article 13 of the Treaty of London of 1915 it was owed concessions in Africa, specifically it asked for Borku and Tibesti citing historic rights inherited from Turkey. France remained reluctant to make concessions in the area, however, in 1919 it did cede some of its Saharan territory in the Pichon-Bonin Accord. Though, this cession only adjusted the Western boundary of Italian Libya and left its Southern border ambiguous.

It wasn't until 1935 as part of the Franco-Italian Agreement, or the Mussolini-Laval Accords, that France agreed to make concessions in Africa. As part of the Agreement, France agreed to withdraw its economic influence in Ethiopia, as well as to transfer the land that would later be called the Aouzou Strip from its colony French Chad to Italian Libya. France hoped that the Agreement would prevent an Italo-German alliance and ensure Italian support in the years prior to World War II. However, these attempts to appease Italy were futile as relations between France and Italy soured and Italy allied itself with Nazi Germany.

This action by Italy meant that the "instruments of ratification" of the Agreement were never formally exchanged between France and Italy, effectively nulling the Treaty. Thus, when Chad became independent in 1960, it inherited all territory of colonial Chad, including the Strip.

In 1969, after the 1969 Libyan coup d'état brought Muammar Gaddafi into power, he claimed the Strip for Libya citing the 1935 Agreement, as well as the fact that.

1973 = Libya Occupation

1977 = Chad protests the Libyan occupation.

On 31 August 1989, the Framework Agreement on Peaceful Settlement of the Territorial Dispute was signed at Algiers by both governments. In the Agreement, both parties agreed to attempt to resolve the dispute by political means within a period of one year. If this was not achieved, they agreed to submit the matter to the International Court of Justice for adjudication. However, these talks soon failed.

Overview
On 31 August 1990, the government of Libya filed in the Registry of the Court the agreement that it had concluded with Chad from the previous year, i.e. Framework Agreement. In this filing, Libya notified the Court that its negotiations with Chad had failed and that it was bound, under Article 2 (a) of the Framework Agreement, to submit the dispute to the Court.

On 3 September 1990, the government of Chad filed in the Registry of the Court an application to begin proceedings against Libya based on the Article 2 (a) of the Framework Agreement, as well as the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighborliness of 1955 signed between France and Libya. In its application, Chad declared that at a meeting held from 22-23 August 1990, both states had agreed to call upon the Court to adjudicate the matter. Finally, it requested the "determine the course of the frontier between the Republic of Chad and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya."

On 24 October 1990, both parties agreed that proceeding had been instituted by two successive notifications of the Framework Agreement, i.e. Libya's filing and Chad's application. Two days later, on the 26th, the court requested memorials and counter-memorials from both parties, asking for clarification on the dispute. The deadline for the memorial was 26 August 1991, whereas for the counter-memorial it was 27 March 1992. Additionally, each party was given right of reply, which was due 14 September 1992.

Public hearings for the case were held between 14 June and 14 July 1993.

Claims


Libya’s claim to the Strip was based on a coalescence of rights and titles: those of the indigenous inhabitants, of the Senoussi Order, as well as those of a succession of sovereign States, i.e. the Ottoman Empire, Italy and Libya itself. In the case, Libya held the position that there was no existing boundary, and asked the Court to determine one.

Chad's claim was based on the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighborliness agreed to by France and Libya on 10 August 1955. Additionally, its claim could also be supported by French effectivités. In the case, Chad held the position that there was an existing boundary, and asked the Court to declare were that boundary was.

Ruling
On 3 February 1994 the ICJ handed out its final ruling. In this ruling the Court, in a 16 to 1 vote, found that the boundary between Chad and Libya was defined by the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighbourliness of 1955. It held that the 1955 Treaty "completely determined the boundary between Libya and Chad."

In its ruling, the Court found that the course of the boundary between Libya and Chad is as follows: ""From the point of intersection of the 24th meridian east with the parallel 19° 30' of latitude north, a straight line to the point of intersection of the Tropic of Cancer with the 16th meridian east; and from that point a straight line to the point of intersection of the 15th meridian east and the parallel 23° of latitude north""

- ICJ in its ruling of Territorial Dispute (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya/Chad)

Mandate
The mandate of the Observer Group was threefold:
 * To monitor the withdrawal of Libyan forces and administrators/administration from the Strip,
 * To ensure that said withdrawal is effected in accordance to article 1 of the 4 April Agreement between Chad and Libya, and
 * To ensure the implementation of the ICJ ruling to its fullest extent.

Contributions
The following countries provided military personnel: REF

Financial Aspects
The total cost for this mission was $64,471. The budget was comprised of appropriations through the United Nations regular budget. REF