"CRISIS" ON CHAD-LIBYA BORDER OVER WAYWARD UN CONVOY

C O N F I D E N T I A L TRIPOLI 000019 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/MAG E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/12/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER CASC ASEC PHUM PREF SOCIA LY CD SD SUBJECT: "CRISIS" ON CHAD-LIBYA BORDER OVER WAYWARD UN CONVOY RESOLVED REF: A) 08 TRIPOLI 889, B) 08 TRIPOLI 921 CLASSIFIED BY: Gene A. Cretz, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy - Tripoli, U.S. Dept of State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) UN Resident Representative Brian Gleeson told the Ambassador on January 12 that a three-day "crisis" on the Chad-Libyan border had just been resolved. Five World Food Program (WFP) workers, accompanied by a group of 23 Chadian soldiers, got lost while en route to rendezvous at the border with a 53-truck WFP convoy laden with food, which they were to have accompanied to distribution centers in eastern Chad. The party strayed some 4-5 miles into Libya on/about January 9 before being surrounded by what Gleeson described as a sizeable force of Libyan security officials and military personnel. (Note: The WFP maintains a large logistics and distribution center, including dozens of heavy trucks and other vehicles, in Kufra, from which they truck food supplies into eastern Chad. End note.) ¶2. (C) Noting recent tribal conflict in Kufra and clashes between GOL forces and residents of the town (ref A),Gleeson said tensions in southeastern Libya remained high. The GOL's response to the unintended incursion by the Chadian troops was "massive" in terms of the forces it dispatched and prompted a flurry of communications between Tripoli and Ndjamena. The situation escalated when Chad dispatched an additional group of soldiers to find/reinforce the group that had gone missing, necessitating active intervention by Gleeson and other UN officials with the GOL and Chad. Despite orchestrated press junkets to Kufra and reports in Libyan state-owned press claiming that violence there had been "a minor incident" exaggerated by international media (ref B),Gleeson said tensions on the Chad-Libyan border and in the area between the border and Kufra (located some 450 kilometers north of the border) remained "very high". The heavy presence of Libyan security and military elements have constituted a significant complication for UN/WFP operations. ¶3. (C) Comment: Gleeson's readout corroborates anecdotal reports we've heard from other contacts to the effect that the situation in and around Kufra has remained tense since clashes there late last year. The fact that we have received little information from the GOL about the November clashes between Toubou and Zawiya tribesmen and developments in the area since is consistent with the regime's practice of dismissing reports of internal disturbances -- particularly those involving ethnic or tribal equities -- as inaccurate or overblown. End comment. CRETZ