Algeria–Libya border

Three empires, two agreements

The northern tip of the border is older than the rest. A convention between France and the Ottoman Empire (the “Sublime Porte”) signed on 12 May 1910 drew a line between French and Turkish territory from the Mediterranean at Ras Adjir to Ghadames. It was then marked on the ground with numbered boundary markers.^[1] Just west of Ghadames, markers 220 to 233 form a semicircle about 20 miles (32 km) long.^[1]

South of Ghadames, the first line came from the Franco-Italian Arrangement of 12 September 1919. It divided French and Italian territory from Ghadames south to Tummo, but it gave little detail.^[1]

Libya’s independence and the 1956 line

France was never fully happy with parts of the 1919 line, because it cut through the home areas of some local groups. During the Second World War French forces occupied the Fezzan region of Libya, which reunited many of those areas.^[1]

Libya became independent in 1951, so France and Libya had to settle the border between them. Their 1955 treaty covered the withdrawal of French troops from the Fezzan, the movement of local groups along the line, customs, and a more detailed boundary.^[1] An exchange of letters on 26 December 1956 then redrew the stretch from Ghadames to Ghat, about 410 miles (660 km), in detail.^[1]

The 1956 line mostly runs in straight lines between hills, escarpments and rocky points. For long stretches it follows a desert track at a fixed distance, usually one kilometre to its west.^[1] It also crosses the Edjele airfield, known as Maison Rouge. Libya agreed to lease the Libyan part of the airfield, plus a 200-metre security belt, to France for 20 years from 10 August 1955.^[1]

“From point F to point G the frontier follows, at a distance of one kilometre to the west, the line representing the track passing to the east of Edjele.”^[1]

South of Ghat, and at the northern end

Below Ghat the border runs about 180 miles (290 km) to Niger. The 1955 treaty only said the line would pass through the Takharkhouri Gap, the Anai Pass and reference point 1010. In 1961 the US Geographer found no detailed delimitation and no definitive map of this stretch.^[1] Sovereign Limits, a boundary research service, says its alignment remains in question between Algeria and Libya today.^[4]

At the northern end, Algeria and Tunisia long disagreed over where their own border met Libya. In 1961 Libya accepted the 1910 line and did not dispute the tripoint.^[1] The question was settled in 1970, when Tunisia gave up its claim to the land between Fort Saint and marker 233.^[2]

The main crossing links Ghadames in Libya with Debdeb in Algeria. In December 2023 Libya’s foreign ministry announced it would reopen on 12 December, after being closed for more than eight years.^[3]