Features of the African vector of Muammar Gaddaphi' s foreign policy: From Arab unity to Africanism. History and fates

The publication focuses on the Libyan leader M. Gaddafi's foreign policy in Africa - Arab North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa as well. Initially, M. Gaddafi's unionist aspirations were aimed at the countries of the Arab Mashreq - Egypt, Syria, plus Sudan. After unsuccessful attempts to unite with these countries, unionism began to acquire a distinct Maghreb orientation - Tripoli strove for unity with Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco. However, difference in integration approaches of North African leaders as well as changes in the regional situation brought conflict potential into this process which, under the influence of external and internal factors, led to the extinction of centripetal trends in the region. Libyan foreign policy intensified in Sub-Saharan Africa. Pan-Arabism of M. Gaddafi gave way to pan-Africanism. The culmination was the activity of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and personally its leader in the transformation of the OAU into the AU. © 2020 Rossiiskaya Akademiya Nauk, Institut Istorii (Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of General Hist. All rights reserved.