39 Years After US Bombing Of Libya

15th April, 2025

Today, the New African Charter International (NACI) solemnly commemorates the 39th anniversary of the tragic bombing of Libya’s two peaceful cities of Tripoli and Benghazi. On April 15, 1986, the United States launched air strikes on Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya, which the Reagan administration in Washington claimed to be a response to a prior attack on a Berlin Discotheque in Germany that resulted in the deaths of American servicemen. The US government attributed the Berlin bombing to what they said: ‘Libyan support for terrorism’.

This military operation, which was codenamed Operation El Dorado Canyon, targeted the residences of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli and Benghazi. The US attacked was launched in the early morning hours of April 15, 1986. Over 100 aircraft from the United States Navy and United States Air Force took part in the attack on Libya’s two main cities. Reports said were USAF F-111 were lost, but accuracy of Libyan casualty figures are yet to be made public, 39 years after that spurious attack.

The US airstrikes resulted in the deaths of 63 Africans, including Hannah Gaddafi-the daughter of Muammar Gaddafi. Thirty-nine (39) years have passed since that fateful incident on the African soil. We honour the memory of the 63 innocent Africans, the African brothers and sisters who were brutally killed in the attack and we reaffirm our commitment to keep faith with the families of victims caught in that attack.

Our fallen African brothers and sisters will be remembered today with moments of silence across Africa and the African diasporas. What is more illuminating in this statement is that, nowhere in Africa or the African diasporas are the memories of these fallen African martyrs more compelling than the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya. We will remember these fallen African martyrs forever as truly the best of humanity.

On this day of 39th anniversary of the US bombing of Libya, the New African Charter International enjoins all Africans everywhere on the planet to pray for the eternal rest of the souls of the departed and for more long and healthy lives for the injured survivors who are still living. As always, we recognise the extraordinary fortitude and determination of those living survivors, many of whom suffered permanent disability and trauma, when they supposed to live comfortable lives today.

Since the overthrow of King Idris in Libya by a group of Military Officers led by Muammar Gaddafi, and the dawn of the September 1 Al-Fateh revolution in 1969, the relationship between the United States and the North African nation became sour. The relations was so tense, and characterised by trading in allegations and counter-allegations.

This relationship between the two African nations came to a hard-hit in 1986, when the US government alleged that Libya was responsible for the bombing of the La Belle Discotheque in West Berlin on April 5, killing, which killed one U.S. soldier and wounding more than 200 people. Operation Eldorado Canyon was a long range strike deep into Libyan territory, and was tailored at the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) in England.

This operation started when 24 US Air Force F-111s departed the Royal Air Force (RAF) Base in Lakenheath, in the United Kingdom along with five other EF-111s from RAF Heyford, according to reports at our disposal. The F-111s faced a 3,500 mile flight with four aerial refuelling each way due to flight restrictions. As the aircraft approached Libya, two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, the USS Coral Sea and the USS America, launched 14 A-6E strike aircraft and 12 F/A-18 and A-7 strike support aircraft.

In the context of the 39th anniversary of the 15th April, 1986 US bombing of the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, we make this statement bold and as follows, that NATO invasion and genocidal campaign, which started in March 2011 was aimed at killing Muammar Gaddafi, the same way they plotted and assassinated other progressive African leaders on the continent. In our view the current situation in Libya would have been averted if NATO members and allies had respect for the human rights of African people, in the first place.

We support Libya’s affirmation of its political independence and economic sovereignty. The continued looting of the African people’s natural resources and wealth in Libya must end now.

We demand an end to the colonisation and military occupation of Libya by NATO backed terrorist outfits. We oppose the logic of foreign criminal adventurers, such as the so-called Islamic terrorist outfits, deciding on the future direction of the African continent. We take this position because we know that the freedom of Libya is tied to the emergence of a pluralist, peaceful and democratic nation of dignified people.

NATO’s continued aggression and threats to Africa, progressive African leaders and people must end. The continued destruction and rape of the wealth of Libya must end. NACI has always been, and continue to be against any logic of fake counter-terrorist military blocs. We therefore demand an immediate and unconditional dismantling of all unwanted foreign military bases and the non-return of their military personnel to Africa.

In our struggle against imperialism and for the independence and sovereignty of Africa, we fight for the defeat of NATO’s project in Libya; the collapse of France’s project in the Sahel region; the disappearance of Algeria’s Zionism in the Sahel region; the burial of Ukraine’s terrorism in the Sahel region; and as well, we advocate respect and integrity of the political and economic sovereignty of Africa. Furthermore, we advocate peace, security and stability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and for the unity of the African continent.

We reaffirm such a programme for the thirty-ninth (39th) anniversary of the US bombing of Libya, as we continue to advocate peace, stability and freedom in Libya. We call for an end to assassination of progressive African leaders on the continent and the diasporas; and as well as, also, for an end to western nations’ germ warfare in Africa. We will continue to support Africans in Libya in their struggle for democratic transformation, the development and prosperity of their nation.

Signed by:
Alimamy Bakarr Sankoh
President and co-founder
The New African Charter International (NACI)

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