Massoud Abdelhafid

Massoud Abdelhafid
Birth nameMassoud Abdelhafid Ahmed
Nickname(s)Mr. Chad
Allegiance Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Service / branchLibyan Army
RankGeneral officer
Battles / warsChadian-Libyan conflict
First Libyan Civil War

Massoud Abdelhafid (Arabic: مسعود عبد الحافظ, romanized: Masʿūd ʻAbd al-Ḥafīẓ) is a Libyan retired army general during the government of Muammar Gaddafi. He held various positions in government following the 1969 coup d'etat of Muammar Gaddafi, including Commander of Military Security,[1] Governor of Fezzan[2][3] and Head of Security in Major Cities.[4] He was a key figure in Libya's relations with neighbouring Chad and Sudan.[5] Massoud Abdelhafid was a senior commander in the Libyan Army during the Chadian–Libyan conflict.[6] Known for his leadership of Libyan-backed insurrections and wars in Chad, he was referred to as "Mr. Chad".[2] He married to a sister of al-Gaddafi[7] and to a niece of Goukouni Oueddei.[8]

2011 Libyan civil war

The United Nations Security Council drafted a resolution naming 23 senior Libyan officials in the regime of Muammar Gaddafi to be sanctioned. The resolution, which included travel bans and asset freezes, named Massoud Abdelhafid.[9]

Following the defection of Abdul Fatah Younis, Gaddafi designated Abdelhafid as interior minister.[10] General Massoud Abdelhafid led the pro-Gaddafi forces in the city of Sabha during the Battle of Sabha and the Fezzan campaign.[2]

Abdelhafid was reported to have fled to Egypt alongside Interior Minister Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah.[11]

Notes

  1. ^ Black, CR: Deterring Libya, the Strategic Culture of Muammar Qaddafi, Page 11, The Counter Proliferation Papers, Air University, 2000.
  2. ^ a b c Sherlock, Ruth; Spencer, Richard (10 September 2011). "All eyes on the desert as the hunt for Gaddafi continues". Telegraph.co.uk. Tripoli.
  3. ^ "The Right of Peoples to Self-Determination". The National Council of Tibesti. 2004. Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  4. ^ "Gaddafi Security Clan".
  5. ^ Africa Energy Intelligence: Libya-Chad, Tidjani Thiam, Indigo Publications, 2001.
  6. ^ Correau L (2008). "RFI - 1977-79 La conquête du Nord, Habré à N'Djamena (The conquest of the North, Habre in N'Djamena)". RFI. translated link.
  7. ^ Blundy, David; Lycett, Andrew (1987). Qaddafi and the Libyan Revolution. Boston: Little Brown & Co. ISBN 978-0-316-10042-7.
  8. ^ Collins, Robert O. Africa's Thirty Years War: Libya, Chad, and the Sudan, 1963–1993, p. 147.: Westview Press, 1999.
  9. ^ Benhorin, Yitzhak (26 February 2011). "UN draft sanctions names 23 Libyan officials". ynet.
  10. ^ "Ansamed". March 2011. Retrieved 2016-01-12.[dead link‍]
  11. ^ "Preparing for Post-Gadhafi Libya". Politeía Digest. 22 August 2011.